GULICR  HYGIENE  SERIES 

THE  BODY  AT 
WORK 


BY  FRANCES  GULICK  JEWETT 


1909 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

G 


Class 


THE    GULICK    HYGIENE    SERIES 

BY 

LUTHER  HALSEY  GULICK,  M.D. 


THE    GULICK    HYGIENE    SERIES 


BOOK  FOUR 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


BY 


FRANCES   GULICK  JEWETT 


UNIVERSITY 

Of 


GINN  &  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


BIOLOGY 
R 
6 


ENTERED  AT  STATIONERS'  HALL 


COPYRIGHT,  1909,  BY 
LUTHER  H.  GULICK 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


99-3 


gtftengum 


GINN   &   COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


EDITOR'S  NOTE 

The  primary  object  which  has  been  sought  in  the 
preparation  of  this  series  of  text-books  on  physiology 
and  hygiene  is  the  establishment  of  those  hygienic 
habits  which  are  basal  to  personal  wholesomeness  and 
efficiency.  It  is  recognized  that  mere  knowledge  of  an 
intellectual  character  is  ineffective.  We  all  know  much 
better  than  we  do.  Only  that  knowledge  is  effective 
which  is  related  to  doing,  —  knowledge  which  we  actu- 
ally put  into  practice.  The  effect  of  knowledge  upon 
action  is  an  important,  even  if  not  the  ultimate,  criterion 
of  its  value.  It  is  relatively  useless  to  teach  children 
about  the  body,  unless  the  teaching  is  done  in  such  a  way 
as  to  lead  them  to  desire  to  form  their  lives  accordingly. 

Habits  are  established  not  merely  or  mainly  as  the 
result  of  intellectual  conceptions.  Our  daily  habits  are 
to  a  large  extent  a  social  inheritance  from  the  customs 
of  those  among  whom  we  grow  up.  This  is  true  regard- 
ing the  forms  of  our  speech,  the  character  of  our  cloth- 
ing, habits  of  social  intercourse,  and  the  like,  and  it  is 
not  less  true  in  the  forming  of  hygienic  habits. 

The  main  object,  then,  in  this  series  is  to  introduce 
that  atmosphere,  both  of  intellectual  comprehension  and 

V 

182494 


\ 

vi  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

social  custom,  which  shall  result  in  the  unconscious  as 
well  as  the  conscious  development  of  the  individual  in 
these  directions.  An  attempt  is  made  to  accomplish  this 
through  the  different  volumes  of  this  series,  though  the 
method  pursued  differs  somewhat  with  each  volume. 

(1)  During   the    first    three    years  of   school    life,   in 
which  the  instruction  is  entirely  oral,  the  most  impor- 
tant aspects  of  personal  hygiene  are  those  which   are 
taught    not    as    theoretical    lessons    but    as    personal 
experiences.     Cleanliness    of    hands    and   face,   and    of 
clothing  and  the  room,  freshness  of  the  air,  tempera- 
ture, —  these  are  taught  not  so  much  by  formal  lessons 
as  by  the   teacher  insisting  that   the   pupils  be  clean, 
that  their  clothing  be  repaired  and  in   order,  that  the 
room  be  clean,  comfortable,  well  ventilated,  etc.    These 
matters  should,  of  course,  be  called  to  the  attention  of 
the  pupils  as  well  as  carried  out  in  practice.    The  per- 
sonal cleanliness  and  neatness  of  dress  of  the  teacher 
are,  of  course,  predominant  factors  in  this  whole  matter. 

(2)  The  volume  entitled  Good  Health  was  written  for 
the  fourth  grade.    In  this   a  general  view  is  taken  of 
the  subject.    Scarcely  any  anatomy  and  relatively  little 
physiology  are  given,  the  main  contents    of  the  book 
consisting  of  concrete  and  interesting  facts  relating  to 
pure  air,  tobacco,  cleanliness,  sleeping,  eyesight,  alcohol, 
hearing,  finger  nails,  hair,  care  of  the  nose  and  teeth, 
and  eating. 


EDITOR'S  NOTE  vii 

(3)  The  second  volume  in  the  series,  Emergencies,  ap- 
proaches the  subject  of  the  formation  of  habits  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  emergencies  which  come  to  children. 
Many  of  the  same  subjects  are  treated  here  that  are  dis- 
cussed in  the  other  volumes  of  the  series,  but  from  this 
special  standpoint.    The  skin  is  discussed,  not  from  the 
standpoint  of  general  health  or  cleanliness,  but  from  that 
of  blisters  and  burns.    The  habits   that  it  is  desirable 
for  children   to  form  with  reference  to  conduct  during 
emergencies  form  the  subject-matter  of  the  year.   It  in- 
cludes many  of  the  topics  that  are  ordinarily  discussed 
under  the  subject  of  physiology  and  hygiene,  but  they 
are  presented  from  this  special  point  of  view,  —  a  point 
of  view  that  is  new  to  the  child. 

(4)  The  volume  Town  and  City,  which  is  prepared  for 
the  sixth  year  of  school   life,  presents    the  subject   of 
hygiene  from  the  standpoint    of   the   community,   and 
habits  of  action  which  have  a  social   bearing  are  dis- 
cussed,—  the  results  of  overcrowding,  clean  streets,  gar- 
bage, ashes  and  refuse,  parks,  playground,  public  baths, 
water  supply,  preventable  diseases,  food  inspection,  epi- 
demics, vaccination,  tuberculosis,  city  health  and  alcohol, 
microbes  and  disease.    These  are  all  topics  in  which  in- 
dividual action  is  involved.    In  all  of  them  the  relation 
and  special  emphasis  are  with  reference  to  the  state. 
The  book  is  thus  made  an  agency  for  the  formation  of 
habits  having  a  community  bearing. 


viii  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

(5)  The  fourth  volume,  The  Body  at  Work,  which  is 
intended  for   the   seventh  grade,   covers    somewhat   in 
detail  the  subjects  ordinarily  covered   in  the  standard 
physiologies,  but  the  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  training  of 
the  body  for  efficiency.    Thus  much  is  said  concerning 
the  importance  of  good  posture  and  how  to  secure  it ; 
how  one  trains  the  muscles  of  the  body  that  they  may 
be  efficient,  enduring,  and  strong;  the  nature  and  char- 
acteristics of   useful  exercise;    how  digestion   is   most 
efficiently  carried  on.    The   whole  point  of  view  con- 
cerns the  training  of  the  individual  to  most  efficient 
bodily    conduct.    It    relates    particularly   to    the    large 
physiological  functions   of  digestion,   circulation,  nutri- 
tion, and  respiration. 

(6)  The  closing  volume  of  the  series  relates  directly 
to  the  establishment  of  habits  themselves.    The  title  of 
the  book  is  Control  of  Body  and  Mind.    In  this  book  is 
discussed  with  some  detail  how  habits  are  formed,  not 
so  much  as  a  theory,  but  as  an  experience ;  how  habits 
are  broken,  fatigue,  the  wholesome  development  of  the 
brain    and    the    spinal    cord,    the  freedom   which    well- 
ordered   habits  give  to  the  person  who  has   them,  the 
nerve  endings  and  their  care,  etc.    The  whole  purpose 
of  the  book  is  to  give  the  individual  that  information 
which    is    related   to   the   establishment    of   wholesome 
habits,    particularly   wholesome    habits    which    shall  be 
effective  in  the  control  of  conduct. 


EDITOR'S  NOTE  ix 

Thus,  while  the  direct  object  of  this  series  concerns 
itself  with  conduct,  particularly  conduct  with  reference 
to  health  and  efficiency,  it  covers  all  of  the  ground  usu- 
ally covered  by  discussions  on  physiology  and  hygiene. 
Because  of  the  different  points  of  view  which  are  brought 
out  during  the  different  years,  the  range  of  facts  pre- 
sented is  far  greater  than  has  ever  before  been  presented 

to  children. 

LUTHER  HALSEY  GULICK 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  BONE  AND  MUSCLE  RECORDS i 

II.  DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 9 

III.  MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 18 

IV.  THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF 24 

V.  STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES 34 

VI.  BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET 44 

VII.  ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 51 

VIII.  THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED    ....  58 

IX.  THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  is  AT  WORK 67 

X.  DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN     .     .  77 

XI.  To  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND  BACK 88 

XII.  BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES 96 

XIII.  EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES 102 

XIV.  ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION "...  109 

XV.  As  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS 117 

XVI.  WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR 124 

XVII.  ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE  .     .     .  132 

XVIII.  EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING 139 

XIX.  CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY 149 

XX.  FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD  ;  OR,  PERISTALTIC  ACTION  AND 

THE    VlLLI 157 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXI.  GLAND  LABORATORIES  FOR  THE  AID  OF  APPETITE  AND 

GENERAL  HEALTH    ............  ^5 

XXII.  GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL      .  173 

XXIII.  HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING,  OR  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  THE 

DIAPHRAGM.     ............  jgo 

XXIV.  FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS      .     ...  191 
XXV.  THAT   WHICH   DESTROYS,  AND    HOW   MEN   SAVE   THEM- 
SELVES     ....... Tg7 

XXVI.  PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN     .......  204 

XXVII.  WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL      .........  212 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  LIST 210 

QUESTIONS    .     ...    \     ........  221 

GLOSSARY     .     .     .     .     .     .    .     ...     .    .    .  237 

INDEX ^         ....../..  241 


OF  THE 

(    UNIVERSITY 

V       OF 

Xis 


INTRODUCTION 

In  the  following  pages  emphasis  is  laid  on  function 
rather  than  on  structure,  on  bodily  health  rather  than  on 
the  mere  mechanical  operation  of  bone,  muscle,  gland, 
and  tissue.  So  much  of  structure  is,  however,  included 
as  is  necessary  to  show  that  we  are  personally  respon- 
sible for  the  kind  of  service  which  we  receive  from  the 
organs  of  the  body  rand  that  we  are  equally  responsible 
for  the  habits  of  bone  and  muscle  which  determine  the 
physical  representation  of  ourselves  to  others. 

Attention  is  drawn  to  right  and  wrong  habits  of  sit- 
ting, of  standing,  and  of  walking;  to  the  relation  of  the 
school  desk  to  spinal  curvature ;  to  laws  of  growth, 
through  the  knowledge  of  which  correct  habits  of  pos- 
ture may  be  secured ;  to  the  value  of  physical  exercise 
as  an  aid  to  general  health ;  to  the  development  of  mus- 
cular vigor  and  to  the  renewal  of  tissue  through  food 
and  exercise. 

By  natural  transition  the  work  of  the  muscles  leads  to 
a  study  of  the  source  of  their  energy,- — the  blood.  Sim- 
ple tests  easily  applied,  acquaint  the  reader  with  the 
cause  of  rapid  and  slow  heart  beat,  with  methods  of 
training  the  heart  to  increased  power,  with  reasons 


xiv  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

why  an  untrained  heart  should  not  be  overtaxed,  with 
the  work  of  the  lymphatics  and  the  nature  of  the  ex- 
changes made  between  lymph  and  plasma.  The  insidi- 
ous effects  of  alcohol  on  the  heart  and  on  the  entire 
circulatory  system  is  emphasized. 

Certain  conditions  of  breathlessness  are  discussed, 
and  reasons  are  given  for  the  statement  that  a  man 
runs  as  much  with  his  heart  and  with  his  lungs  as 
with  his  legs.  In  natural  sequence,  this  explanation 
involves  not  merely  the  structure  and  the  function  of 
the  lungs  but  also  a  study  of  the  exchange  of  gases 
both  in  the  tissues  and  in  the  air  sacs. 

The  notable  experiments  of  Professor  Chittenden 
with  United  States  soldiers  in  New  Haven,  and  of 
Dr.  Cannon  with  cats  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School, 
necessarily  add  a  touch  of  picturesque  reality  to  the 
otherwise  prosaic  subject  of  digestion.  At  the  same 
time  these  experiments  serve  to  illustrate  the  action 
of  digestive  juices  on  food,  the  effects  of  rapid  eating 
on  the  nourishment  of  the  body,  the  movement  of  the 
walls  of  the  stomach  during  digestion,  and  the  effect  of 
fatigue,  of  unhappiness,  of  worry,  anger,  and  anxiety  on 
the  normal  progress  of  digestion. 

Through  this  introduction  to  the  subject  prominence 
is  given  to  the  change  of  food  from  solid  to  liquid  form, 
and  to  its  absorption  by  the  villi ;  also  to  the  food  require- 
ments of  the  body  under  differing  conditions  of  age  and 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

activity ;  to  the  value  of  bulk  in  the  food  supply ;  to  the 
functions  of  the  liver  and  of  the  kidneys,  and  to  the  in- 
fluence of  alcohol  in  undermining  their  power  for  work; 
to  the  relation  of  sweat  glands  to  bodily  heat,  and  to  the 
interdependence  of  work,  heat,  and  fuel  in  the  operations 
of  the  body. 

These  and  other  related  topics  have  been  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  students  of  this  volume  with  the  hope 
of  imparting  such  enthusiasm  for  personal  health  and 
such  clear  notions  of  how  to  secure  it,  that  the  bodies 
of  growing  children  may  be  strengthened  as  well  as 
straightened,  that  lives  may  thereby  be  lengthened,  and 
that  through  increased  physical  well-being  the  sum  of 
human  happiness  may  itself  be  increased. 

Not  merely  is  it  the  purpose  of  this  series  to  teach 
scientific  facts,  but  also,  and  especially,  so  to  arrange 
and  present  these  facts  that  from  page  to  page  they 
shall  hold  the  reader's  close  attention  and  inspire  per- 
sonal loyalty  to  the  laws  of  health.  To  further  this  pur- 
pose side  headings  have  intentionally  been  omitted,  so 
that  each  chapter  may  make  its  first  appeal  to  the  reader 
as  a  unified  whole  rather  than  as  a  series  of  disjointed 
fragments.  While  the  disadvantages  of  side  headings  in 
interrupting  th ^continuity  of  thought  have  been  avoided, 
all  their  advantages  are  secured  through  the  questions  at 
the  end  of  the  volume,  which,  in  a  better  form,  answer 
the  same  purpose. 


xvi  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

In  so  far  as  possible,  the  instruction  of  this  text-book 
is  everywhere  reenforced  by  illustrations.  Some  of  these 
are  from  photographs  supplied  by  the  author,  others 
are  copies  of  such  as  are  already  in  wide  use,  while 
still  others  have  been  secured  through  the  courtesy  of 
the  authors  and  publishers  of  notable  investigations. 
Special  mention  should  be  made  of  indebtedness  to  the 
American  Journal  of  Physiology  for  illustrations  used 
by  Dr.  Cannon  in  his  article  on  "The  Movements  of  the 
Stomach  studied  by  Means  of  the  Rontgen  Rays"  (1898), 
and  to  Professor  Chittenden  for  photographs  of  the 
soldiers  with  whom  he  carried  on  his  food  experiments. 

Other  valuable  illustrations  have  been  reproduced 
from  Practical  Hygiene  by  Alice  Ravenhill,  from  The 
Human  Mechanism  by  Theodore  Hough  and  W.  T. 
Sedgwick,  from  Alcohol  and  the  Human  Body  by  Sir 
Victor  Horsley  and  Mary  D.  Sturge,  and  from  Unser 
Korper  by  F.  A.  Schmidt.  To  each  of  these  and  to 
many  other  important  works  this  little  book  is  indebted 
not  merely  for  illustrations  but  also  for  valuable  facts 
which  have  been  used  in  the  preparation  of  its  sub- 
ject-matter. 

r .  (jr.  J. 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

CHAPTER  I 

BONE  AND   MUSCLE  RECORDS 

Many  cases  are  on  record  where  a  man  has  tried  to 
hide  his  face  when  he  thought  his  photograph  was  to 
be  taken.  He  has  seemed  to  understand  that  the  photo- 
graph might  betray  him  some  day  and  lead  to  his  being 
arrested  again. 

But  some  of  our  largest  cities  have  adopted  a  new 
and  surer  way  of  keeping  a  reminder  of  their  captured 
men.  They  measure  each  man  carefully  in  different  di- 
rections,—  height  in  standing  and  in  sitting,  distance 
from  the  outstretched  finger  tip  of  one  hand  to  the  out- 
stretched finger  tip  of  the  other,  length  and  width  of 
head  and  face  and  right  ear,  length  of  left  foot,  of  left 
middle  finger,  and  of  left  forearm.  Scars  are  noticed  and 
recorded ;  also  the  color  of  the  hair  and  eyes,  the  shape 
of  the  nose,  the  number  of  teeth,  etc. 

In  addition,  the  photograph  is  taken.  And,  queer 
though  it  may  seem,  the  photograph  is  less  important 
than  the  measurements  in  identifying  a  man  if  he  is 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


ever  arrested  again  and  brought  to  the  police  station. 

The    reason    is    that    our   bone    measurements    do    not 

change  after  we  are  twenty-two  years  old.    Ever  after 

that  the  size  of  face  and  head, 
the  length  of  arms,  of  fingers, 
and  of  legs  are  all  as  they  will 
continue  to  be  until  we  die. 

This,  then,  is  a  sure  and 
sensible  way  of  keeping  the 
record  of  a  man.  When  a 
criminal  arrives  at  the  police 
court,  no  matter  how  violently 
he  declares  that  he  has  never 
been  there  before  and  that 
this  is  his  first  offense,  the 
officers  measure  him  at  once 
and  also  search  their  written 
records.  If  they  find  there  any 
set  of  measurements  which  is 
a  duplicate  of  those  just  taken, 
all  the  man's  denials  are  in 
vain.  Those  officers  know  that 
never  yet  have  two  people 

been  found  who  had  precisely  the  same  dimensions  for 

all  the  bones  which  were  measured. 

It  takes  but  ten  minutes  for  the  officers  to  get  their 

record  of  a  man  —  photograph  and  all.    But  it  took  the 


TAKING  THE,  LENGTH  AND  THE 
WIDTH  OF  HIS  HEAD 

A  caliper  compass  is  used 


BONE  AND   MUSCLE  RECORDS 


man  himself  twenty-two  years  of  life  to  make  that  body 
which-  is  now  his  physical  record  of  himself. 

As  a  rule  the  body  of  a  baby  is  very  perfect ;  but  even 
in  its  cradle  and  before  it  can 
walk  a  step  or  speak  a  word  it 
begins  to  receive  daily  training  of 
muscles  and  bones,  of  eyes  and 
hands  and  brain.  During  these 
early  months  also  older  persons 
feel  great  responsibility  for  the 
child. 

Notice  any  nurse  or  careful 
mother  with  the  baby  in  her 
arms.  See  her  hold  a  firm  hand 
against  the  back  of  the  head  as 
she  supports  the  backbone  and 
holds  the  child  up  for  a  look  at 
the  world.  She  knows,  as  the  doc- 
tor does,  that  for  months  there  is 
more  cartilage  than  bone  in  the 
supports  of  that  small  body,  and  SEATED  T0  BE  MEASURED 
that,  while  bones  are  in  this  con-  With  his  back  against  the  up_ 

dition,   they  Cannot  be   trusted   tO       right  scale  they  measure  the 
.  height  of  his  trunk 

do  independent  work. 

Later,  when  the  baby  begins  to  walk,  notice  how 
anxious  the  same  mother  is  lest  the  legs  of  the  child 
be  used  too  long  at  a  time.  Her  fear  is  that  those  bones, 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


which  are  even  now  partly  cartilage,  may  be  so  trained 
as  to  disgrace  the  body  later  in  life.  She  may  have  heard 
that  bowlegs  often  result  from  a  disease  called  rickets, 
but  she  also  fears  lest,  even  without  the  disease,  bowlegs 
may  come  from  early  walking ;  and  she  hopes  to  make 
it  impossible  for  any  child  of  hers  to  chide  her  with  bow- 
legged  records  when  he  is  grown.  She  knows  that  the 

younger  the  child  the  more 
promptly  do  bones  bend  in 
this  direction  or  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  treatment 
they  receive  or  the  use 
they  are  put  to. 

Indian  mothers  have 
known  this  for  centuries.  A 
certain  tribe  that  admired 
flat-headed  men  used  to  se- 
cure these  heads  for  their 
boys  by  a  clever  contriv- 
ance. They  simply  fastened  a  board  by  a  hinge  to  the 
head  of  the  cradle  and  allowed  it  to  press  down  upon 
the  forehead  of  the  baby  whenever  he  was  strapped  in 
place.  As  months  passed  the  small  skull  not  only  con- 
tinued to  grow  but  also  set  itself  hard  and  firm  in  the 
desired  shape.  And,  once  firmly  set,  there  was  never 
any  hope  that  the  grown  Indian  could  restore  his  head 
to  the  perfect  shape  which  it  had  when  he  was  born. 


THE  MIDDLE  FINGER  is  MEASURED 
BY  A  CALIPER  COMPASS 


BONE  AND  MUSCLE  RECORDS 


Even  by  accident  bones  often  take  on  some  unex- 
pected and  undesired  shape.  A  man  whom  I  know 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  a  fate  of  this  sort.  As  a 
baby  he  suffered  from  colic,  and  his  mother  found  that 
he  was  quietest  in  his  crib 
when  he  lay  on  his  stomach 
with  the  right  side  of  his  face 
on  his  pillow.  Day  after  day, 
therefore,  he  slept  in  the  same 
position.  Then,  to  her  dis- 
may, one  morning  his  mother 
noticed  that  his  head  was  a 
queer-looking  thing.  It  was 
slightly  flattened  on  one  side 
and  well  rounded  out  on  the 
other.  She  was  in  despair  at 
first,  thinking  that  her  child 
was  perhaps  deformed  for  life. 
But  her  good  sense  told  her 
that  there  was  one  thing  to 
do.  She  saw  that  the  change 
in  shape  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  child  lay  always  with  the  same  side  of  his  head 
against  the  pillow.  That  side  had  been  under  pressure 
while  the  other  side  had  been  growing.  She  therefore 
tried  to  improve  matters  by  making  the  youngster  sleep 
with  his  face  turned  the  other  way  on  his  pillow. 


CHINOOK  BABY  IN  HIS  CRADLE 

The  weight  on  his  forehead  will 

help  turn  him  into  a  flat-headed 

Indian 


6  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

For  hours  the  first  night  the  baby  could  not  sleep. 
He  cried  and  even  screamed.  But  he  was  so  young,  so 
small,  and  so  weak  that  he  could  not  raise  his  own  head 
to  turn  it  over.  He  was  really  at  the  mercy  of  his 
mother;  and  the  more  she  thought  about  it  the  surer 
she  was  that  to  restore  the  shape  of  his  head  she  must 
compel  him  to  sleep  in  a  different  position.  Conse- 
quently she  was  firm,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days 
the  boy  could  sleep  as  well  on  one  side  as  on  the  other. 

For  many  days,  however,  there  was  no  change  to  be 
•seen  in  the  queer  little  head.  Nevertheless,  after  three 
months  the  reward  came.  The  woman  saw  that  the 
flattened  side  of  forehead  and  head  had  grown  out  as 
full  and  round  as  it  should  be.  The  two  sides  were 
alike  once  more.  She  had  learned  her  lesson,  and 
thenceforward  the  baby  lay  in  his  cradle  with  his  face 
turned  about  as  often  to  the  right  as  to  the  left.  To-day 
that  boy  is  a  college  student.  He  weighs  one  hundred 
and  eighty  pounds,  and  his  head  is  as  well  shaped  as 
that  of  any  member  of  the  junior  class.  He  has  his 
mother  to  thank  for  this;  for  if  he  had  had  his  own 
baby  way,  he  would  have  ended  with  a  head  so  queer 
that  he  would  have  been  ashamed  of  it.  And,  worst 
of  all,  by  the  time  he  himself  had  made  the  discovery, 
the  bones  of  his  skull  would  have  been  too  firmly  set 
to  be  changed.  Thus  some  of  our  bones  and  muscles 
are  trained  by  other  people  before  we  are  old  enough 


BONE  AND  MUSCLE  RECORDS  7 

to  make  decisions  for  ourselves.  Yet,  whoever  is  respon- 
sible for  results,  two  laws  of  bone  growth  should  never 
be  forgotten : 

1.  Many  bones  can  be  compelled  to  take  a  bend 
in  this  direction  or  that  while  the  child  is  growing. 

2.  Almost  no  bone  can  be  forced  to  make  a  new 
bend  after  it  is  twenty  years  old. 

But  there  is  other  training  which  is  more  complex  and 
for  which  we  ourselves  are  responsible. 

On  a  certain  day  two  boys  entered  the  same  shop 
and  asked  for  work.  The  first  boy  was  refused,  the 
second  was  accepted,  and  the  explanation  lay  with  the 
bones  and  the  muscles  which  had  made  different  rec- 
ords for  the  two  bodies  to  which  they  belonged.  The 
first  boy  walked  with  a  shuffle  and  had  a  slouching 
body.  Before  he  had  spoken  a  word  the  business  man 
who  met  him  was  unfavorably  impressed  and  ready  to 
reject  him. 

The  second  boy  walked  as  if  he  respected  his  body 
thoroughly.  His  head  was  erect,  his  shoulders  well 
squared,  and  each  muscle  gave  the  impression  that  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  doing  things  with  energy.  This 
boy  was  accepted  as  promptly  as  the  first  was  refused. 

Imagine  a  man  who  needs  the  help  of  other  men  in 
carrying  on  some  undertaking.  Then  try  to  picture  the 
sort  of  body  that  will  serve  him  best.  Think  how  his 
success  or  his  failure  will  be  influenced  by  bone  and 


8  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

muscle,  by  the  way  he  stands  and  walks,  by  the  way 
he  uses  his  back  and  arms  and  legs  and  feet. 

Let  two  women  enter  a  store  or  a  schoolroom,  a  thea- 
ter or  a  church.  Which  will  be  served  most  quickly,  — 
she  who  shuffles  as  she  walks,  has  crooked  shoulders 
and  a  head  thrust  forward,  or  the  woman  who  steps  for- 
ward gracefully,  who  walks  as  if  her  body  were  her  best 
possession,  as  if  it  were  her  true  representative  ?  Surely 
the  second  woman  is  queen  wherever  she  goes.  With- 
out question,  at  every  stage  of  growth  the  body  pro- 
claims the  story  of  what  has  happened  to  it  and  of  all 
that  it  has  done  with  itself  since  it  began  to  live. 

The  point  of  this  chapter,  then,  is  not  that  police 
measurements  of  size  and  shape  make  very  much 
difference  to  us,  but  that  it  is  more  or  less  within  our 
own  power,  while  we  are  growing,  to  make  the  records 
which  are  to  represent  us  the  rest  of  our  lives. 

If  a  man  by  his  own  acts  or  his  own  carelessness 
must  live  miserably  in  a  shanty  when  he  might  have 
lived  gloriously  in  a  palace,  we  are  apt  to  blame  him 
more  than  we  pity  him. 

The  pages  of  this  book  will  show  that  in  a  marvelous 
way  we  are  the  architects  of  our  own  bodies.  We  shall 
also  learn  how  to  help  ourselves  build  the  sort  of  house 
that  we  care  to  live  in,  —  the  body  which  we  are  proud 
to  acknowledge  and  which  we  are  glad  to  see  labeled 
with  our  name  in  full. 


CHAPTER   II 


DANGER   FROM   THE  SCHOOL  DESK 

For  the  sake  of  making  discoveries  about  yourself, 
stand  before  a  mirror  and  study  the 
outline  of  your  back,  your  chest,  your 
shoulders,  and  your  legs.  Try  to  stand 
precisely  as  you  do  every  day  at  home 
and  at  school,  so  that  you  may  get 
a  correct  notion  of  the  records  your 
bones  and  muscles  have  made  for  you 
thus  far  in  life. 

Let  your  eyes  be  keenly  critical.  Are 
you  standing  squarely  on  both  feet? 
Are  your  knees  bent  or  straight?  Is 
your  back  erect  enough  to  hold  your 
head  up  where  it  belongs,  or  does 
your  head  droop  forward  so  that  your 
chin  sticks  out  too  far  in  front  ?  Are 
your  shoulders  on  a  level  with  each 
other,  or  is  one  higher  than  the  other? 
Is  your  chest  rounded  out  like  that  of 
a  soldier,  or  is  it  flat  and  curved  in  like  a  scoop  be- 
tween the  shoulders  ?  Rub  your  hand  across  your  back  to 

9 


HE    STANDS    CORRECTLY 

(Copied  from  Practical 

Hygiene,  by  Alice 

Ravenhill) 


IO 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


see  whether  or  not  a  corner  of  a  shoulder  blade  reaches 
out  like  a  young  wing  starting  from  the  wrong  place. 

If  you  can  give  creditable  answers  to  these  questions, 
your  future  course  is  easy.  Simply  keep  on  growing  as 
you  have  begun,  and  when  your  bones 
are  hard  you  will  have  the  shape  you 
wish.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  are 
not  perfectly  satisfied  with  what  you 
find,  rectify  each  item  of  your  posture 
separately,  while  you  still  look  at  your- 
self in  the  mirror. 

Stand  as  nearly  as  you  can  as  fol- 
lows: both  feet  on  the  floor,  each 
bearing  its  own  share  of  weight ;  both 
knees  stiff ;  both  shoulders  square  and 
on  a  level  with  each  other.  Draw  in 
your  chin  until  the  back  of  your  neck 
would  touch  a  stand-up  collar  if  you 
had  one  on.  Inhale  a  breath  so  full 
and  deep  that  your  chest  looks  like 
that  of  a  drum  major  ready  for  his 
regimentals.  Now  your  back  has  its 
correct  shape  for  standing.  It  should 
be  slightly  curved  in  its  stretch  from  neck  downwards. 

Later  in  the  day  test  yourself  again.  You  are  now 
seated.  Perhaps  you  are  in  the  schoolroom.  If  you 
have  time  for  it,  take  different  positions  and  note  the 


HE    LESSENS    HIS    LUNG 

CAPACITY 

(Copied  from  Practical 

Hygiene,  by  Alice 

Ravenhill) 


DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 


1 1 


feelings  in  connection  with  each.  First,  sit  with  feet 
squarely  on  the  floor,  back  straight,  head  erect,  and 
chest  raised.  Are  you  comfortable  ?  Can  you  draw  a 
full,  deep  breath  ?  Test  this  thoroughly. 

Now  slip  down  in  your  seat,  curve  your  head  for- 
ward, let  your  back  be  bent, 
let  your  chest  fall  in,  and 
once  more  try  to  take  a  full, 
deep  breath.  Notice  that 
here  in  the  schoolroom, 
where  your  brain  needs  ox- 
ygen for  its  work,  you  have 
reduced  your  supply  by  the 
way  in  which  you  have 
doubled  up  your  lungs. 

For  the  sake  of  variety 
take  another  position.  Sit 
with  one  elbow  on  the  desk, 
or  with  one  foot  drawn  up 
under  you,  or  with  some 
bend  at  the  waist  line  that 
will  give  a  twist  to  the  spine 
near  the  hip.  The  objec- 
tion to  taking  any  one  of  these  as  the  usual  position  is 
that  gradually  the  relation  of  the  bones  to  each  other 
will  be  so  altered  as  to  give  the  body  an  undesirable 
shape.  In  no  wise  does  it  harm  any  of  us  to  twist  this 


HE  CURVES  HIS  BACK  AND  CROWDS 
HIS  LUNGS 

(Copied  from  Practical  Hygiene, 
by  Alice  Ravenhill) 


12  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

way  and  that,  to  bend  as  far  as  we  can  in  one  direction 
or  another.  Indeed,  all  such  exercise  is  most  whole- 
some, provided  no  one  position  is  taken  often  enough, 
or  held  long  enough,  to  become  a  habit. 

Sidewise  twists  which  have  become  permanent  are 
receiving  much  attention  from  doctors  and  school  ex- 
aminers to-day.  These  men  claim  that  although  the 
large  majority  of  the  curves  are  very  slight,  and  al- 
though most  of  them  will,  in  all  probability,  never 
become  serious,  still  it  is  not  safe  to  allow  a  curve 
either  to  form  or  to  increase  after  it  is  formed,  because 
we  cannot  tell  what  the  outcome  may  be. 

Dr.  F.  A.  Schmidt,  a  scientific  writer  in  Germany, 
says  that  Dr.  W.  Mayer  examined  the  backs  of  three 
hundred  and  thirty-six  girls  and  found  that  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-nine  of  the  number  had  what  is  called 
lateral  curvature  of  the  spine.  He  found  that  girls 
between  seven  and  thirteen  years  of  age  had  much 
more  trouble  than  those  who  were  under  seven,  and 
he  concluded  that  the  habits  of  sitting  formed  at  the 
school  desk  explained  the  difference,  because  the  older 
children  had  spent  more  hours,  days,  and  years  in  the 
schoolroom  than  those  who  were  younger. 

Another  German  investigator  found  that  in  a  certain 
group  of  children  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  boys  and 
forty-one  per  cent  of  the  girls  had  these  same  curved 
spines.  This  looks  as  if  the  girls  of  that  group  had 


DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 


been  more  careless  than  the  boys  in  the  way  they  sat  at 
their  desks.  Or  it  may  be  that  the  boys  had  saved  them- 
selves by  taking  more  exercise  out  of  the  schoolroom. 

In  1907,  in  the  great  school  at  Rugby,  England,  out 
of  one  thousand  boys  be- 
tween the  ages  of  thirteen 
and  fifteen,  four  hundred 
and  forty-five  were  found  to 
have  more  or  less  of  a  side- 
wise  curve  to  the  spine. 

In  America  the  same  dif- 
ficulty overtakes  children  in 
every  public  school. 

Those  who  hear  these 
facts  for  the  first  time  are 
apt  to  be  filled  with  alarmed 
surprise.  They  wonder  why 
boys  and  girls  who  start  life 
with  beautiful,  symmetrical 

bodies,  should  be  allowed   to     CURVED  BACK  AND  HOLLOW  CHEST 

develop      backs     With      objeC-  (Copied  from  Practical  Hygiene, 

.•11  .  i  by  Alice  Ravenhill) 

tionable  curves  in  them. 

The  answer  is  that,  until  recently,  the  world  of  think- 
ing people  has  been  entirely  ignorant  of  the  actual  state 
of  affairs.  Few  have  understood  the  close  connection 
between  twisted  backs  and  school  desks.  Now,  however, 
the  connection  grows  plainer  every  day. 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Look  round  the  schoolroom  you  are  in  and  see  how 
many  of  the  children  are  doing  the  best  they  can  for  the 
spine.  Draw  your  own  conclusions  from  what  you  find. 
Some  schools  are  thoroughly  wide-awake  on  this  sub- 
ject. They  have  regular 
gymnastic  exercises  be- 
tween recitations  for  the 
express  purpose  of  sav- 
ing the  children  from 
the  harm  which  may 
come  through  long- 
continued  sitting  at  the 
desk. 

It  is  absurd  to  grow 
excited  over  the  situ- 
ation and  to  conclude 
that  we  are  about  to  be- 
come a  race  of  deformed 
people,  for  now  that  both 


HE  TWISTS  HIS  BACK 


If  he  takes  the  same  position  day  after  day, 

some    of   the  vertebrae  will    finally  become 

wedge-shaped.     Habits   of   the   school  desk 

may  thus  change  his  shape  for  life 


(After  Schmidt) 


causes  and  cures  have 
been  discovered  there 
is  no  remaining  excuse 
for  any  school  of  intelli- 
gent children.  Let  them  know  the  danger  they  run  and 
they  will  save  themselves  by  the  laws  of  prevention. 

Follow  for  yourself  the  work  of  muscle  and  bone,  and 
understand  what   happens  when  a  child  gets  into  the 


DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 


habit  of  sitting  at  his  desk  with  elbow  up  on  one  side, 

shoulder  lifted,  and   body  half  screwed   round.    Notice 

that  if  you  tip  up  one   hip   the  spine  curves  sidewise 

as  a  balance.    If  you   raise   one   shoulder  it  pulls  the 

spine    accordingly.     Evidently 

each  separate  movement  of   the 

muscles  of    the  back  brings  its 

result  in  the  curves  of  the  spine, 

and   the    same    curves,   repeated 

day  after  day  at  the  same  desk, 

hold  the  bones  and  the  cartilage 

which  lies  between  them  in  wrong 

positions,  until  they  are  as  truly 

pressed  into  a  new  shape  as  was 

the  skull  of  the  sleeping  baby. 

So  far  as  health  is  concerned, 
the  main  objection  to  these  lateral 
curves  is  that  if  they  are  allowed 
to  go  on  and  become  serious, 
they  will  interfere  with  the  suc- 
cessful work  of  the  large  organs 
of  the  body.  Then,  too,  when  a 
curve  becomes  permanent  —  although  it  may  be  small 
—  the  nerves  themselves  are  often  affected  by  it,  and 
the  body  suffers  at  the  point  which  is  supplied  by  those 
nerves.  A  person  enduring  this  pain  may  not  know  its 
cause,  but  his  ignorance  will  not  save  him  from  suffering. 


CURVED  BY  THE  WAY  HE 
is  HELD 

If  his  nurse  will  carry  him  as 

often  on  one  arm  as  on  the 

other,  no  harm  will  be  done 

to  the  vertebras 


i6 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


\ 


When  a  medical  inspector  passes  through  the  school- 
room or  makes  his  special  examination  of  your  body,  do 
not  be  alarmed.  Even  if  he  tells  you  that  you  have 
a  little  trouble  with  your  back,  keep  calm  and  self- 

possessed  about  it;  for  in  any 
case  of  this  sort  the  director  of 
physical  training  in  your  school, 
or  some  one  else  who  understands 
the  laws  of  muscle  action,  will 
give  you  definite  directions  as 
to  what  you  are  to  do  in  the  line 
of  gymnastic  exercises.  And  by 
being  faithful  in  carrying  out 
these  directions  you  will  straighten 
your  back. 

But  prevention  is  best  of  all. 
Children  may  save  themselves  by 
being  careful  to  balance  the  exer- 
cises which  they  allow  the  muscles 
of  their  backs  to  take.  All  that  is 
habit,  the  boy  will  have  a  needed  is  a  little  knowledge  and 

crooked  body  when  he  is      a    firm    purpose>      Whoever    allows 
a  man 

(Copied  from  Practical  Hygiene,    himself  to  be  shaped  by  undesir- 

Qf 


NOTICE  HIS  SHOULDERS 
If   this   position   becomes   a 


by  Alice  Ravenhill) 

will  have  cause  for  keen  regret  in  later  years.  But  he 
who,  in  his  youth,  controls  his  habits  and  shapes  his 
body  with  care,  will  never  regret  it.  Four  rules  will  help  : 


DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK        17 

1.  Do  not  sit  day  after  day  in  the  same  twisted 
position.    When  you  have  been  seated  in  one  way 
for  a  while,  then  change  and  sit  in  some  other  way. 

2.  Do  not  carry  a  heavy  weight  of  books  on  the 
same  arm  back  and  forth  from   school  every  day. 
Carry  as  few  books  as  possible  on  either  arm,  and 
let  each  arm  do  its  share  in  holding  the  weight. 

3.  Do    not    carry   a  baby  brother    or   sister   on 
the   same  hip  every  day.    The   weight   just  there 
will  tend  to  give  a  wrong  twist  both  to  your  back 
and  to  his. 

4.  If  you  must  stand  for  hours  at  a  stretch,  learn 
to  rest  one  leg  by  using  the  other.    Don't  let  one 
side  sag  down  from  habit.    Change  sides. 

It  is  best  to  keep  free  from  every  form  of  spinal 
curvature  by  prevention ;  but  if,  through  ignorance, 
you  have  been  overtaken  by  it,  you  have  a  rare  oppor- 
tunity to  prove  for  yourself  what  can  be  done  with  the 
growing  human  body.  You  will  succeed  if  you  make 
up  your  mind  to  it. 


CHAPTER  III 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 

The  coal  heaver  round  the  corner  has  a  superb  set  of 
muscles  over  the  working  part  of  his  back.  They  are  so 
well  developed  that,  as  he  stands  bent  over  his  work,  it 

is  evident  that  these  muscles 
give  him  a  back  of  tremen- 
dous strength.  By  their  help 
he  shovels  coal  for  hours  at  a 
time  through  the  days  and  the 
weeks  of  the  year.  Moreover, 
when  he  has  finished  his  day's 
work  he  does  not  seem  over- 
tired. He  is  still  ready  for  his 
joke  and  his  laugh  with  his 
children  at  home.  He  even 
jokes  at  the  expense  of  his 
own  back,  for  although  it  is 
so  well  developed  and  so  tire- 
less, still  the  man  himself  frankly  acknowledges  that  it 
is  sadly  bent,  and  that  by  no  effort  on  his  part  can*  he 
stand  straight  or  walk  as  would  please  him  best.  He 
says  that  that  is  the  price  he  has  had  to  pay  for  the 

18 


BENT  BY  HIS  WORK 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 


kind  of  work  he  has  chosen  as  a  life  occupation.  More 
people  have  round  shoulders  developed  in  some  such 
way  than  are  troubled  with  any  kind  of  lateral  curvature 
of  the  spine. 

A  bicycle  rider  whom  I  know 
has  a  back  quite  as  bent,  although 
from  a  different  cause.  It  is  mus- 
cular, strong  and  efficient,  but  it 
never  looks  well  except  when  he 
is  working  his  legs  fast  on  his 
wheel.  It  is  bent  from  the  posi- 
tion it  has  been  allowed  to  take, 
rather  than  from  the  work  it  has 
done  in  that  position. 

Something  must  be  wrong,  how- 
ever, and  we  wonder  what  it  is. 
Here  are  these  men  and  multi- 
tudes of  others  whose  backs  are 
splendidly  developed,  but  who  are 
so  bent  as  to  look  almost  deformed. 
For  years  no  one  could  entirely 
explain  the  cause  of  the  combi- 
nation— the  strong  but  bent  back. 

At  last,  however,  close  observation  and  logical  reasoning 
have  made  the  case  clear.  I  give  the  explanation  in  the 
fewest  words  possible.  The  value  of  this  explanation  will 
be  measured  for  us  by  the  use  we  make  of  the  law : 


BENT  BY  BICYCLING 


20  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Muscles  stay  in  the  position  in  which  they  do  their 
heaviest  work. 

A  man  of  my  acquaintance  who  travels  a  good  deal, 
says  that  when,  for  a  few  weeks,  he  carries  his  suit  case 
persistently  with  the  same  hand,  that  shoulder  becomes 
an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half  lower  than  the  other, 
while,  at  the  same  time  it  becomes  stronger.  This  shows 
how  a  muscle  can  be  lengthened  even  while  it  is  being 
strengthened. 

Stretch  a  muscle  out  and  work  it  hard,  as  a  coal 
heaver  does  when  he  curves  his  back  over  for  the  shov- 
eling and  the  lifting  of  the  coal,  and  those  muscles,  being 
obliged  to  work  hard,  even  while  they  are  stretched,  will 
gain  their  strength  in  that  position  and  will  stay  elongated 
even  when  they  are  not  at  work.  Let  their  size  and  their 
strength  increase  while  they  are  stretched  and  you  have 
given  them  their  permanent  shape. 

Two  oarsmen  illustrate  this  law  in  opposite  ways. 
One  does  all  his  hardest  rowing  with  a  straight  back,  the 
other  with  a  back  that  is  curved.  Their  work  continues 
day  after  day  until  each  back  is  as  strong  and  as  muscu- 
lar as  the  other.  But  see  what  the  results  are.  One  man 
walks  as  if  he  had  spent  his  boyhood  curved  over  a 
school  desk  without  a  thought  about  what  might  be 
happening  to  his  spine.  The  other  man  looks  as  if  he 
might  have  spent  those  same  years  at  West  Point  with 
officers  and  fellow-students  who  compelled  him  to  stand 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 


21 


straight  whether  he  wished  to  or  not.  Yet  the  boyhood 
of  the  two  men  may  have  been  the  same.  Indeed,  the 
difference  just  now  lies  entirely  with  the  two  positions 
in  which  they  did  their  rowing.  Their  muscles,  when 
they  walk,  simply  betray  some  facts 
about  their  recent  history. 

Look  at  the  hand  of  a  piano 
player,  —  it  is  open  because  he  al- 
ways exercises  it  hard  in  that  posi- 
tion ;  and  the  hand  of  the  oarsman, 
—  see  how  his  fingers  curl  up  as  if 
they  were  ready  to  grasp  his  oar 
even  when  it  is  not  in  sight.  An 
oarsman's  hand  tells  the  story  about 
his  occupation. 

From  the  man  who  digs  to  earn 
his  daily  bread  on  the  farm  or  in 
the  coal  mine,  to  the  man  who 
climbs  a  mast  and  risks  his  life  in 
the  tempest,  —  through  each  occu- 
pation of  life  the  muscles  of  the  body  are  called  upon 
to  do  their  hardest  work  in  special  positions.  And  it 
sometimes  seems  as  if  numberless  human  beings  would 
have  to  submit  to  their  fate  and  accept  muscles  which 
their  work  has  forced  on  them;  for  after  a  man  has 
chosen  his  life  work  he  cannot  leave  it  simply  because 
he  objects  to  the  shape  which  it  is  giving  to  his  body. 


BENT  BY  AGE 


22  THE  BODY   AT  WORK 

Fortunately,  however,  there  is  a  happy  outlook  even 
for  such  people  as  are  obliged  to  work  with  their  backs 
bent,  for  there  is  another  important  fact  about  this  law 
of  contracting  and  stretching.  I  give  it  concisely: 

Brief,  vigorous  exercise  in  the  right  position  will  undo 
much  of  the  harm  of  long-continued  exercise  in  the  wrong 
position. 

If  a  man  who  works  in  a  bent  posture  all  day  will 
spend  five  minutes  a  day  in  taking  vigorous  exercise 
with  his  back  straight,  alternately  tightening  hard  and 
then  relaxing  the  muscles  of  his  back  and  neck,  he 
will  find  that,  within  one  month,  there  will  be  an  im- 
provement. By  this  simple  device  a  man  may  save  him- 
self from  his  rounded  back  and  be  able  to  hold  his  head 
where  it  should  be. 

Let  the  oarsman  who  objects  to  hands  that  curve  like 
stiffened  claws  spend  several  minutes  each  day  in  first 
extending  his  fingers  forcibly,  then  in  relaxing  them, 
and  he  will  be  sure  to  see  results. 

From  these  facts  we  learn  that  by  the  vigorous  exer- 
cise of  one  set  of  muscles  for  a  few  minutes  each  day, 
we  may  be  able  to  overcome  the  harm  which  is  done  by 
the  long-continued  plodding  work  of  another  group  of 
muscles. 

It  often  happens  that  the  muscles  of  the  chest  be- 
come thin  and  flabby  for  lack  of  exercise,  even  while  the 
back  has  become  very  strong.  But  these  muscles  may 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING          23 

be  saved.  Throw  the  shoulders  well  back  and  exercise 
chest  muscles  hard  in  this  position.  Exercise  them  while 
they  are  thus  stretched  and  they  will  grow  large  and 
prominent  in  spite  of  what  the  man's  occupation  may  be. 
In  this  work  of  changing  the  shape  and  the  power  of 
a  muscle  the  greatest  strain  must  be  put  on  the  last 
third  or  the  last  quarter  of  the  contraction  which  it 
makes.  Remember  that  each  muscle  is  inclined  to  stay 
in  the  shape  which  it  takes  when  it  does  its  hardest 
work ;  in  other  words,  the  law  of  the  body  is  that  doing 
a  thing  makes  the  body  shape  itself  to  that  act. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF 

The  audience  was  greatly  interested,  for  the  doctor 
who  gave  the  lecture  had  just  said  that,  with  very  little 

trouble,  each  man  present 
could  increase  the  size  of  his 
arm  three  quarters  of  an  inch 
within  one  month,  and  could 
increase  his  chest  measure  an 
inch  and  a  half  during  the 
same  length  of  time.  Those 
who  listened  were  business 
men,  and  they  were  specially 
pleased  with  the  part  of  the 
lecture  which  told  them  how 
they  might  set  to  work  to  se- 
cure this  astonishing  growth 

EXERCISE  FOR  THE  BICEPS  f          ,  , 

for  themselves. 

To  show  what  he  meant,  the  lecturer  asked  his  friend, 
a  medical  student,  to  illustrate  the  points  one  by  one  as 
he  himself  explained  them.  The  student  was  well-knit 
and  well-built.  No  unnecessary  fat  concealed  the  shape 

of  his  muscles,  and  he  was  ready  to  show  the  other 

24 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF  25 

men  what  they  also  might  do  in  behalf  of  their  own 
development. 

For  a  while  it  sounded  as  if  the  whole  talk  were  to  be 
a  lecture  on  the  size  and  shape  of  different  muscles;  for 
the  doctor  asked  his  friend  to  show  his  muscles  one  after 
the  other  in  quick  succession.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  show 
us  the  effect  on  the  biceps  of  rotating  the  arm;  the 
forearm;  now  the  leg, —  the  big  muscles;  show  that 
tensor.  Now  again  will  you 
go  through  four  or  five  exer- 
cises that  bring  into  play  in 
succession  first  one  arm,  then 
the  other,  and  so  on  ? " 

The  student  acted  on  the 
suggestions  as  fast  as  they 
were  given.  His  smooth  back 

,  .  .  WELL-DEVELOPED  MUSCLES 

and   arms    gave    no   sign    of 

separate  muscles  while  he  stood  quietly  waiting  to  be 
told  what  to  do.  But  as  soon  as  he  followed  directions 
and  used  arm,  leg,  back,  or  shoulders,  there  sprang  into 
view  a  succession  of  splendid  muscles  that  seemed  to 
have  been  lying  in  ambush  under  the  skin. 

From  his  intense  expression  it  was  evident,  however, 
that  in  order  to  force  these  muscles  into  action  and  into 
sight,  the  young  man  fastened  his  utmost  will  power 
and  attention  on  them.  In  doing  this  his  joints  had  to 
stiffen  themselves  for  the  stronger  resistance,  while  at 


26  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

the  same  time  the  muscles  of  the  entire  body  seemed  to 
be  brought  into  active  exercise.  They  worked  together, 
although  the  special  force  of  each  exercise  was  of  course 
centered  on  the  muscle  which  was  being  developed. 

In  all  this  the  student  held  no  apparatus,  but  he  used 
arms  and  legs  as  if  he  were  pulling  against  some  invisi- 
ble weight.  He  was,  in  fact,  pulling  against  the  force  of 
his  own  other  muscles,  —  antagonistic  muscles  they  are 

called.  Try  this  for  yourself 
with  your  forearm  or  with 
your  back.  Decide  to  bring 
out  one  muscle  and  see  how 
many  others  are  called  into 
action. 

The  lecturer  then  explained 
that  muscles  can  be  developed 
in  this  way  with  no  apparatus 

EXERCISE  WITHOUT  APPARATUS  '  . 

whatever.     He  said  that  the 

power  lies  in  making  certain  muscles  pull  against  their 
antagonistic  muscles.  As  he  gave  his  directions  he 
added  that  muscles  must  pull  as  hard  as  possible  for 
a  few  seconds  at  a  time,  must  then  let  go  completely, 
then  pull  again  for  a  few  seconds,  and  so  keep  up  the 
alternation  for  five  minutes  in  the  morning,  for  five  min- 
utes at  night,  and  for  ten  minutes  a  day  between  times. 
Men  who  proposed  to  develop  arm  or  chest  could,  he 
said,  put  in  the  extra  ten  minutes  whenever  convenient 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF  27 

It  seems  that  the  different  pulls  do  not  need  to  be  in 
close  succession,  but  may  be  slipped  in  anywhere  during 
the  day.  The  whole  process  of  developing  a  particular 
muscle  or  set  of  muscles  may 
thus  be  carried  on  without 
apparatus,  without  gymnas- 
tics, without  fuss  or  feathers 
or  display  in  any  direction. 
The  student  testified  that 
what  he  had  done  for  himself 
in  this  way  had  increased  the 
size  of  his  own  arm  an  inch 

.  .  HE  DEVELOPS  ARM  MUSCLES 

within  a  single  month. 

As  for  securing  really  big  muscles,  however,  anything 

enormous  is  a  disadvantage  rather  than  an  advantage  in 

the  health  line.  Still  the  fact 
that  up  to  a  definite  limit  we 
have  the  power  to  increase 
the  size  of  arm  and  chest  and 
leg  proves  once  again  how 
truly  each  of  us  is  master 
and  architect  of  the  body  we 
are  building. 

TAKING  THE  MEASUREMENT  ^  ,  .         ,    -  .    , 

But  what  about  the  material 

itself  —  the  substance  out  of  which  the  body  piles  a 
muscle  into  shape  and  compels  it  to  increase  in  size 
whenever  it  is  forced  to  do  unusual  work? 


28 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Get  a  piece  of  lean  corned  beef  from  the  butcher; 
have  it  boiled  thoroughly;  place  a  board  over  it  and 
press  down  upon  it  hard  enough  to  squeeze  out  all  the 
liquid;  remove  the  board,  and  with  a  needle  of  some 
sort  pick  apart  the  fibers  as  well  as  you  can.  Pick  them 

away  from  each  other 
into  finer  and  finer 
threads  until  you  think 
you  have  reached  the 
limit  in  size. 

Now  if  you  can  get 
a  good  magnifying 
glass,  use  it  in  examin- 
ing one  of  these  bits 
of  beef  muscle.  You 
are  able  to  pull  them 
apart  because  the  out- 
side wrapping  of  each 
has  been  changed  by 
boiling. 

However  large  or 
small  a  muscle  may  be,  and  wherever  that  muscle  does 
its  work,  —  whether  in  creatures  that  walk  or  fly  or  swim, 
—  every  active  muscle  is  made  up  of  fibers  wrapped  to- 
gether in  bundles.  Shapes  are  different ;  size  varies  from 
those  that  draw  an  eyelid  up  and  down  to  those  that 
kick  a  football  to  its  goal ;  location  is  different ;  strength 


MUSCLES  OF  DIFFERENT  SHAPE 
(After  Schmidt) 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF 


29 


and  power  of  endurance  are  different;  but  each  muscle 

that  has  ever  been  studied  has  been  found  to  be  made 

up  of   fibers.    A   few  of   these  are 

wrapped  together  as  a  small  bundle. 

Small  bundles  are  gathered  into 

bundles   that  are  larger.     Large 

bundles    become    larger   yet;    and 

thus  from  smaller  to  larger  are  the 

muscles  built  up.    Each  is  a  bundle 

of  other  bundles ;   each  is  adapted 

in   size    and    shape    to  the   special 

work  which  it  must  do ;  and  every 
fiber   in   the    bundles, 

large  and  small,  is  inclosed  in  its  own  sarco- 
lemma.  This  sarcolemma,  then,  is  simply  an 
outer  wrap  which  separates  each  fiber  from 
all  the  others.  In  addition,  however,  there 
is  a  close  network  of  substance  called  con- 
nective tissue,  which  holds  the  individual 
fibers  together.  In  this  connective  tissue  are 
the  tiny  blood  vessels  and  the  slender  nerves 
which  supply  blood  and  stimulus  to  each 
smallest  fiber  of  the  largest  as  well  as  of  the 


INDIVIDUAL 
MUSCLE  FIBERS 


END  OF  A 
MUSCLE  FIBER 


help  form  the    smallest  muscles  of  the  body.    Fine  threads 

tendon 

of  connective  tissue  also  stretch  away  from 
each  end  of  the  muscle  fibers  and  help  form  the  tendon. 
Thus,  although  each  separate  fiber  is  a  part  of  the  muscle 


30  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

as  a  whole,  it  also  seems  to  be  an  independent  small 
center  of  power  doing  its  own  independent  work. 

The  truth,  however,  is  that  no  single  fiber  carries  its 
independence  very  far.  Generally  when  its  neighbors 
receive  your  command  to  go  to  work,  it  receives  the 
same  command.  When  they  rest,  it  rests  too.  When 
they  are  destroyed  by  suffering,  age,  or  death,  it  endures 
all  that  they  endure.  Yet,  after  all,  the  work  of  the  mil- 
lions of  fibers  which  are  held 
together  by  connective  tissue 
in  a  single  muscle  is  really  the 
sum  of  the  work  which  the  fibers 
do  separately. 

More    than    this,    it    is    the 
amount  of  connective  tissue  be- 

A  BUNDLE  OF  MUSCLE  FIBERS 

,-,   ,  .  tween  the  fibers  that  explains 

Each  is  covered  with  its  own 

sarcoiemma ;  connective  tissue    the  difference  between  tough 

is  between  the  fibers  ,  ,  TTT. 

and  tender  meat.   With  age  and 

with  exercise  this  tissue  gradually  thickens  its  substance 
during  life  until  finally  certain  muscles  become  too  tough 
to  be  eaten  without  long  boiling. 

A  spring  chicken  is  tender  because  its  tissue  has  not 
been  toughened  by  work.  Tender  steak  comes  from  that 
part  of  the  animal  which  has  had  little  exercise.  When, 
therefore,  we  speak  of  tough  and  tender  meat  we  really 
refer  to  muscles  in  which  the  connective  tissue  has  been 
toughened. 


SUPERFICIAL  MUSCLES  OF  THE  BODY 

Each  is  fastened  to  bones  that  lie  underneath 

31 


32  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

These  facts  apply  not  only  to  the  muscles  of  those 
animals  that  are  killed  by  human  beings  for  food,  but 
also  to  our  own  arms  and  legs.  Let  an  athlete  bend  up 
his  arm  for  your  benefit.  You  may  try  to  press  it  with 
your  hand  and  it  will  resist  you  almost  like  a  piece  of 
wood.  This  is  no  mystery  to  you,  for  you  understand 
that  each  fiber  in  that  muscle  has  been  toughened  by 
use.  If  the  muscle  itself  were  found  in  the  shop  of  a 
butcher  and  were  offered  for  sale,  a  wise  cook  would 
refuse  to  buy  it.  He  would  complain  that  even  boiling 
would  not  make  it  tender. 

These  muscles  which  we  have  been  studying  belong 
to  the  skeleton.  They  are  always  attached  to  bones  and 
are  therefore  called  skeletal  or  voluntary  muscles.  There 
are  indeed  two  classes  of  muscles : 

1.  Voluntary  muscles,  of  which    there  are    five 
hundred.    They  are  called  voluntary  because  each 
is  under  the  power  of  our  will.    Through  them  we 
walk  and  run  and  climb  and  swim;   through  them 
we  talk  and  sing  and  play  the  piano  and  cover  our- 
selves with  glory  on  the  athletic  field.    They  serve 
us  when  we  give  our  commands.    Not  so,  however, 
with  the  second  class. 

2.  Involuntary  muscles.    These  form  the   heart 
and  are  also  in  the  walls  of  the  arteries  and  of  the 
alimentary  canal,  —  the  food   tube.    They  are  deaf 
when  we  command,  but  they  continue  to  be  busy 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF  33 

whether  we  are  asleep  or  awake ;  whether  we  stand 
or  sit;   whether  we  laugh   or  sigh   or  cry,  run   or 
climb  or  swim.    Whatever  we  do,  they  are  unceas- 
ingly occupied  with  the  internal  work  of  the  body, 
—  pumping    the   blood   round    through   heart   and 
blood  vessels,  caring  for  the  food  we  eat,  and  carry- 
ing on  those  central,   vital  processes  of  life   over 
which  we  have  no  conscious  control. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  muscular  machinery  of  any 
human  being  weighs  as  much  as  all  the  rest  of  his  body 
put  together  and  weighed  in  a  lump.    A  few  separate 
muscles  are  given  in  the  picture,  but  there  is  no  special 
reason    why   we    should    learn    their    names    by   heart. 
Nevertheless  the  biceps  is  not  easily  forgotten.    It  is  the 
muscle  best  known  to  every  boy,  for  it  may  give  him 
pride  or  disgrace  him,  according  to  the  pulling  power 
which  has  been  developed  in  it  by  its  master. 


CHAPTER  V 

STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES 

A  certain  teacher  who  owned  a  skeleton  was  in  the 
habit  of  throwing  it  over  his  shoulder  when  he  carried  it 
from  the  storeroom  where  he  kept  it  to  the  lecture  room 
where  he  showed  it  to  his  students.  And  as  he  walked 
it  hung  from  his  back  as  a  clattering  set  of  dangling 
bones.  It  is  true  that  the  separate  bones  were  held  to- 
gether at  the  joints  by  artificial  contrivances;  but  that 
was  all.  By  no  chance  could  the  skeleton  have  stood 
on  its  own  unaided  legs.  Those  who  saw  this  group 
of  bones  for  the  first  time  understood  as  never  before 
that  bones  are  as  dependent  on  ligaments  and  muscle 
to  keep  them  together  as  are  tendon  and  muscle  de- 
pendent on  bone  to  hold  them  in  place. 

Examine  a  bone  fresh  from  the  butcher's.  Notice  the 
outside,  —  firm  and  closely  woven,  as  it  has  to  be,  to 
supply  a  surface  for  muscles  to  hold  to.  Look  at  the  in- 
side. There  we  find  looser  texture.  We  know  now  how 
it  happens  that  the  bone  is  not  only  large  and  strong 
but  light  and  firm.  It  is  indeed  by  no  means  a  solid 
thing.  A  magnifying  glass  shows  the  spaces  even  better 
yet.  You  may  now  see  smooth  channels  on  the  outside, 

34 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE  CENTRAL  SUPPORT  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY 

A,  skull  (composed  of  22  bones);  £,  spinal  column  (composed  of  33  vertebrae); 
C,  sternum  or  breastbone;  /),  ribs  (12  on  each  side);  £,  clavicle;  F,  humerus; 
G,  radius;  //,  ulna;  /,  carpal  (7  bones  in  each  wrist  and  ankle);  /,  metacarpal 
(5  bones  in  the  palm  of  each  hand  and  instep);  K,  phalanges  (14  bones  that  form 
the  fingers  and  the  toes  of  each  hand  and  foot) ;  Z,  pelvis  (composed  of  4  bones) ; 
J/,  femur ;  A7",  tibia ;  O,  fibula 

35 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


along  which  the  blood  vessels  ran,  and  tiny  openings 
from  the  surface  to  the  interior,  into  which  the  smallest 
blood  vessels  went,  to  keep  up  the  life  of  the  bone. 

A  chemist  will  take  the  same  bone  and  study  it  in 
another  and  a  different  way.  He  will  keep  it  in  acid 
for  a  while  and  will  then  tell  us  that  he  has  taken 

all  the  lime  out;  that  he 
has  left  nothing  but  gela- 
tin. He  may  tie  it  into  a 
knot  and  let  us  see  how 
pliable  it  is.  Taking  an- 
other bone,  he  will  hold 
it  in  fire  for  a  while,  and 
when  wre  touch  it  the 
whole  structure  will  go  to 

BONE  CUT  LENGTHWISE  (A)  AND  j  jjk        ]  f       R 

CROSSWISE  (B] 

,  .,     "  That  is  mostly  lime,"  he 

Blood  vessels  and  nerves  run  through  the  J 

canals,  and  these  canals  are  joined  to  each    Will      tell      US  J       u  I     have 
other  by  channels  yet  more  minute  ,  ,  . 

burned    out    the    organic 

matter  which  becomes  gelatin  when  boiled."  A  cook 
will  take  a  bone  with  no  meat  on  it,  will  boil  it  for 
several  hours,  set  the  liquid  away  to  cool,  and  when  it 
is  cold  she  will  have  a  thick  jelly  to  add  to  her  soups. 
It  is  gelatin  made  from  the  bone.  From  these  and  other 
experiments  we  learn  that  bones  are  made  up  of  lime 
and  of  an  animal  substance,  which  becomes  gelatin  after 
being  cooked.  We  also  learn  that  in  old  age  bones 


STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES          37 

contain  the  most  lime,  and  that  the  younger  the  child 
the  less  lime  is  there  in  his  bones. 

It  appears  that  the  proportion  of  lime  increases  from 
year  to  year  through  life,  until  finally  the  entire  system 
of  bones  becomes  too  brittle  to  make  it  safe  for  aged 
people  to  risk  even  so  small  a  thing  as  a  tumble  on  the 
sidewalk.  Many  an  older  bone  has  snapped  off  short 
where  a  younger  bone  would  have  saved  it- 
self by  bending  a  trifle. 

This  brings  us  back  to  the  subject  of  the 
reason  why  children  have  the  power  to  in- 
fluence the  shape  of  their  bones  while  they 
are  young.  The  animal  part  not  only  pre- 
vents bones  from  being  brittle,  but  it  keeps 

,1  TIT  TIED  IN  A 

them  pliable.  KNOT 

Knowing  this  fact,  I  applied  it  to  the  case  After  acid  has 
of  a  friend  of  mine.    She  was  getting  a  hoi-  taken  the  lime 

from  it 

low  chest  and  I  told  her  how  to  save  herself. 
"  It  will  be  hopeless  after  you  are  twenty,"  I  said.  "  But 
you  are  only  twelve  now.  Your  bones  are  still  pliable. 
If  you  will  raise  your  chest  with  vigor,  fill  your  lungs 
with  air,  hold  yourself  in  this  position  for  three  or  four 
seconds  at  a  time  and  do  it  many  times  a  day,  you  will 
compel  your  bones  to  take  the  shape  for  which  you 
will  be  thankful  the  rest  of  your  life."  I  suggested  that 
she  give  special  attention  to  the  matter  on  the  way  to 
and  from  school  each  day.  She  liked  my  scheme  so 


38  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

well  and  practiced  it  so  faithfully,  that  within  a  month 
the  curve  of  her  chest  had  improved.  Cities  are  full  of 
women  who,  if  they  could  thereby  im- 
prove their  appearance,  would  gladly 
take  hold  of  their  bones  one  by  one, 
and  pinch  and  pound  them  into  a  de- 
sired shape.  Such  women  have  grown 
up  without  knowing  what  we  have 
learned  already,  that  during  youth, 
through  the  aid  of  muscles  and  firm 
determination,  the  relation  of  bones  to 
each  other  may  be  quietly  turned  in 
this  direction  or  that  according  to  our 
own  desire. 

Although  young  bones  are   pliable, 
they  are  nevertheless  firm  enough   to 
be   the   central    support  of   the  entire 
body   of    the    youngest   child.     See    a 
baby   kick    his   small  legs  and   thrash 
A  BONE  c7T         his  arms  about.    His  bones  are  not  yet 
THROUGH  LENGTHWISE  strong  enough   to  bear  much  weight, 

The  outer  layer  is  com-    ^  ^          supply    just    as     many    points 
pact  and  firm,  the  inner  *  rr  J     J 

substance  is  a  network    for  muscles     to     hold     to     aS     do    older 
of  canals   and  spaces;    .  ^,  ,          , 

thus  are  bones  both  light  bones.    They  also  have  just  as  many 

and  strong  different  shapes  as  they  will  ever  have. 

Each  bone  is  as  important  to  the  body  of  a  child  as  to 

that  of  a  man,  and  ignorance  about  them  is  a  misfortune. 


STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES 


39 


Cervical 


Thoracic 
(orDorsal] 


In  so  far  as  you  can,  feel  of  your  own  bones  and  de- 
cide for  yourself  why  each  has  its  own  particular  shape. 
You  will  find  long  bones  for  legs 
and  arms ;  flat  bones  for  shoulder 
blades,  breastbone,  and  hips ;  curved 
long  bones  for  the  ribs ;  curved  flat 
bones  for  the  skull;  and  you  will  dis- 
cover that  these  latter  are  so  close- 
ly joined  together  that  your  head 
seems  like  a  solid,  single  bone.  There 
are  queer,  jagged  bones,  one  above 
the  other,  in  a  column  for  the  back, 
and  many  small  bones  of  hand  and 
foot  deftly  held  together,  each  doing 
its  part  in  stiffening  up  the  body 
and  in  making  it  serviceable  to  us. 

Baby  and  man  alike  have  the 
same  number  of  pieces  to  the  skele- 
ton, but  the  names  of  our  two  hun- 
dred separate  bones  are  of  no  vital 
importance  to  us.  Still  the  picture 
gives  a  few,  because  it  seems  almost 
discourteous  to  label  such  useful 
articles  as  nothing  more  than  long  Ea?h  8rouP  of  vertebr*  has 

its  special  name 

and  short  and  flat  and  crooked  bones. 

Most  important  of  all,  perhaps,  is  the  graceful  column 
of  the  spine.    Many  a  man  has  lived  for  years  without 


Lumbar 


Sacral 


A  SIDE  VIEW  OF  THE 
SPINAL  COLUMN 


:  BODY  AT  WORK 


VERTEBRA  SEEN  FROM 

ABOVE 


an  arm,  without  a  leg,  without  bones  of  various  size  and 
shape ;  but  no  man  has  ever  been  able  to  live  for  a 
moment  without  that  pile  of  thirty-two  small  bones 

that  holds  his  head  erect,  that 
keeps  his  ribs  in  place,  and  that 
guards  the  treasure  of  his  spinal 
cord. 

In  this  spine  each  separate 
vertebra  is  held  to  the  one  above 
it  and  to  the  one  below  it  by 
muscles  and  ligaments  on  each 
side,  and  because  of  their  muscles 
and  ligaments  these  individual  vertebrae  are  no  more 
responsible  for  the  shape  they  take,  or  for  the  twists  and 
curves  they  join  in  making  when  a  gymnast  bends  his 
back  from  side  to  side,  than  are 
the  dumb-bells  and  the  pulleys 
which  the  same  gymnast  uses ;  for 
the  bones  of  the  spine  simply  rock 
back  and  forth  upon  each  other 
according  as  muscles  on  this  side 
or  that  give  the  needed  pull. 

Just  here  recall  a  few  facts.  As 
we  know,  young  bones  are  largely 
cartilage ;  they  take  new  shapes  if  they  are  put  under 
special,  oft-repeated  pressure.  A  child  at  a  school  desk 
easily  gets  into  the  habit  of  sitting  with  the  vertebrae 


VERTEBRA  SEEN 

FROM    THE 

SIDE 


STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES          41 

pressed  against  each  other  at  the  same  angle  every  day. 
Small  muscles  do  the  pulling;  they  grow  strong  as  they 
are  exercised.  In  the  meantime,  also,  the  separate  verte- 
brae are  yielding  to  pressure.  On  one  side  they  are  grow- 
ing thinner ;  on  the  other  side,  not  being  pressed  upon, 
they  grow  thicker.  The  result  is  inevitable.  Some  of 


BLOCKS  TO  SHOW  HOW  THE  VERTEBRA  ARE  HELD  TOGETHER 
BY  LIGAMENTS  AND  MUSCLES 

/,  ligament;  7/2,  muscle 

the  bones  of  the  back  will  become  wedge-shaped;  and, 
sad  to  say,  a  back  that  has  developed  wedge-shaped 
vertebrae  —  vertebrae  that  have  kept  their  wedge-shape 
until  they  are  hardened  for  life  —  can  never  hope  to  be 
straight  again. 

Certain  other  bones  may,  however,  be  changed  by 
what  they  are  compelled  to  do.  Suppose  you  decide 
that  you  wish  those  that  are  larger  and  rougher.  You 


WEDGE-SHAPED  VERTEBR/E 
Pressure  was  too  often  on  the  same  side 


42 


STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES         43 

may  travel  a  straight  road  to  that  definite  end.  Work 
the  muscles  which  are  fastened  to  these  bones ;  work 
them  hard ;  be  persistent  and  the  result  will  come. 

In  studying  human  skeletons  it  is  not  difficult  to  pick 
out  the  bones  of  such  persons  as  did  vigorous  muscular 
work  by  their  heavier  and  rougher  character,  while  the 
thin  walls  and  fragile  internal  substance  of  other  bones 
show  that  the  muscles  of  the  arms  and  the  legs  were 
paralyzed  or  wholly  useless. 

Evidently,  then,  active  exercise  leaves  its  mark  even 
on  the  bony  part  of  the  body.  Thus,  without  making 
any  close  examination  of  our  own  separate  bones,  we 
may  know,  by  the  exercise  we  give  them,  what  their 
prospects  are  year  by  year. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET 

As  I  looked  at  the  small,  deformed  feet  of  our  friend 
the  Chinese  lady,  I  easily  imagined  what  had  happened 


CHINESE  SHOES  Two  AND  A  HALF  INCHES  LONG 
The  huge  ankle  shows  how  deformed  the  foot  really  is 

to  the  bones  that  made  up  the  bulk  of  the  huge  ankle 
above  the  shoe.    No  one  saw  this  ankle.    All  we  saw 

44 


BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET     45 

was  the  dainty,  handmade  shoe  two  and  a  half  inches 
long,  embroidered  in  silk  of  lovely  shades,  and  made  of 
cloth  and  silk  above  a  leather  sole. 

For  hundreds  of  years  Chinese  custom  demanded 
that  all  the  women  of  the  upper  classes  in  the  empire 
should  hobble  through  life  on  deformed  feet.  Some  feet 
were  larger,  some  were  smaller,  but  in  certain  regions 
the  most  stylish  shoes  were  two  and  a  half  inches  long. 
This,  then,  was  the  size  of  foot  which  the  ladies  wished 
to  have.  To  secure  it,  a  mother  began  to  bind  the  feet  of 
her  daughters 
when  the  girls 
were  five  or 
six  years  old. 
Often  the  girls 

0  THE  BONES  OF  THE  FOOT 

themselves 

wished  to  have  this  done.  Nevertheless  the  bandages 
were  drawn  so  tight  that,  night  after  night,  young  girls 
have  cried  themselves  to  sleep  in  China  because  their 
feet  in  their  bandages  hurt  them  so. 

Almost  never,  however,  were  the  bandages  left  off. 
They  were  changed  from  time  to  time.  But  when  they 
were  put  on  again  they  were  pulled  ever  tighter,  until, 
in  the  course  of  years,  the  child  secured  the  foot  which 
could  never  again  help  her  by  the  movement  of  the 
bones  which  formed  it.  The  toes  had  been  drawn  in 
under  the  foot;  the  heel  had  been  drawn  forward  to 


46  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

meet  them;  muscles  and  tendons  had  been  kept  from 
growing,  while  the  bones  themselves  had  been  obliged 
to  take  strange  new  shapes  as  they  fitted  themselves 
into  such  space  as  they  could  get. 

When  I  saw  my  friend  the  Chinese  lady,  her  feet  were 
set  for  life.  They  gave  her  little  discomfort,  and  she  her- 
self now  took  entire  charge  of  their  binding.  Until  she 
dies,  however,  she  must  hobble  through  her  duties  and 
her  pleasures  almost  as  helpless  as  if 
her  feet  were  cut  off  at  the  ankles. 

Fortunately  for  China,  the 
government   has    now   for- 
bidden foot 
binding 
throughout 
the  empire. 

BONES  AND  LIGAMENTS  OF  THE  FOOT  AND  ANKLE 

At     last, 

therefore,  the  girls  of  the  land  may  sleep  in  comfort, 
and  the  future  ladies  of  the  Celestial  Empire  may  walk 
about  with  such  ease  and  grace  as  can  only  come  when 
the  entire  foot  is  at  the  service  of  the  body. 

Even  in  other  lands  than  China  there  is  often  lack  of 
comfort,  while  very  often  all  trace  of  grace  is  also  lack- 
ing. When  you  see  your  own  bare  foot  to-night  com- 
pare its  natural  shape  with  the  shape  of  fashionable 
shoes.  Remember  the  following  facts  and  decide  what 
the  sensible  course  of  action  is: 


BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET 


47 


1.  Each  foot  is  made  up  of  twenty-six  small  bones. 

2.  These  bones  are  joined  to  each  other  by  liga- 
ments and  muscles. 

3.  No  foot  can  be  in  thoroughly  good  order,  neither 
can  it  exercise  itself  with  ease,  unless  each  muscle, 
bone,  and  ligament  is  allowed  to  move  with  freedom. 

4.  If  the  arch  of  the  foot  is  flattened,  health  is 
apt  to  suffer.    Indeed,  it  is  so  serious  a  matter  to  be 
flat  footed  that  men  with  this 

handicap  are  refused  admit- 
tance to  the  United  States 
army.  Test  the  condition  of 
the  arch  of  your  own  foot  by 
dipping  the  bare  sole  lightly 
in  water,  then  pressing  it  on 
blotting  paper.  The  imprint 
made  will  show  whether  the 
foot  is  flat  or  arched.  Those 
who  stand  still  for  hours  every 
day  are  in  danger  of  flattening 
their  feet.  While  they  stand  they  should  therefore 
save  the  arch  by  resting  the  weight  of  the  body  first 
on  one  foot  for  a  while,  then  on  the  other.  If  you 
have  any  tendency  to  flat  feet,  help  yourself  by  the 
following  exercise.  Stand  with  toes  turned  inwards, 
and  while  in  this  position  rise  as  high  as  you  can 
on  your  toes.  Do  this  one  hundred  times,  twice  a 


A  B 

FOOTPRINTS 

A,  an  arched  foot;  B,  a  flat 
foot 

(After  Schmidt) 


48  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

day;   or,  instead  of  counting,  rise  and  fall  on  the 
toes  until  the  muscles  are  tired. 

5.  A  young  foot  grows  by  day  as  well  as  by 
night,  and  should  never  be  cramped  when  it  is  in 
use.  This  does  not  mean  that  a  shoe  should  be  too 
loose  for  comfort.  It  means  that  the  foot  is  one  of 
the  most  useful  pieces  of  machinery  we  have,  and 
that  we  are  in  better  health  and  have  a  more 
graceful  walk  when  our  feet  are  not  uncomfort- 
ably hampered  by  our  shoes. 


A  WOMAN'S  FOOT  DEFORMED  BY  FASHIONABLE  SHOES 
(After  Schmidt) 

It  is  a  sad  fact  that  multitudes  of  men  and  women 
would  be  filled  with  confusion  if  they  were  obliged  to 
show  the  shape  of  the  feet  they  have  secured  for  them- 
selves. The  explanation  of  the  shape  lies,  of  course,  in 
the  shoes  they  have  worn. 

The  best  health  of  the  foot  calls  for  attention  to  the 
following  points: 

1.  Wear  shoes  with  soles  as  broad  as  your  foot 
is  when  you  stand  with  no  shoe  on. 

2.  Do  not  lace  your  shoes  so  snugly  about  the 
ankle    that    the    pressure    will    interfere    with    the 


BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET     49 

circulation   of   blood.     Cold   feet   often   come   from 
tight  shoes,  tightly  laced. 

3.  Let  the  heels  of  your  shoes  be  broad  and  low. 


A  B  c 

THE  SHAPE  OF  THE  FOOT  AND  THE  SHAPE  OF  THE  SHOE 

Dotted  lines  show  the  natural  shape  of  the  foot ;  solid  lines  show  the  sole 
of  the  shoe.  A,  correct  shape;  B,  the  large  toe  is  drawn  in  too  far;  C, 
the  shoe  is  too  narrow.  If  you  wish  a  comfortable  and  a  well-shaped  shoe, 
get  one  that  is  wide  enough,  but  longer  than  you  need.  This  will  give  you 
the  effect  of  having  a  slender  foot 

4.  Never  wear  tight  garters.    They  interfere  with 
the  movement  of  the  blood  through  the  blood  vessels, 

5.  Remember  that  tan  shoes  are  rather  better  than 
black  shoes  for  summer  wear  because  they  do  not 
keep  the  feet  so  warm. 


50  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

6.  Keep  the  feet  dry  and  warm,  but,  if  possible, 
avoid  overheating  them. 

7.  Be  sure  that  your  shoes  are  large  enough  to 
give  your  toes  as  well  as  your  ankle  a  chance  to 
move  and  to  be  useful  when  you  walk. 

When  the  school  children  of  the  world  turn  their  seri- 
ous attention  to  the  subject,  and  put  into  practice  what 
they  know  about  healthy  feet  and  about  shoes  of  the 
proper  shape,  they  will  form  an  army  which  will  have 
the  power  to  lead  the  fashion  of  the  world  in  sensible 
shoes. 


CHAPTER  VII 

ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 

During  the  summer  of  1905  the  following  item  ap- 
peared in  the  New  York  Times. 

ELEPHANT'S  ANKLE  SPRAINED 
ALICE  SLIPS  ON  A  BANANA  PEEL  AND  GETS  A  BAD  TWIST 

Alice,  the  big  elephant  in  Bostock's  at  Coney  Island,  has  a  sprained 
ankle.  It  is  a  bad  sprain,  too,  mainly  because  it  is  a  big  one  ;  there 
is  nothing  slender  about  Alice's  ankles.  Alice  was  crossing  a  gangway 
into  the  arena  when  she  slipped  on  a  plebeian  banana  peel. 

Alice  saved  herself  from  falling  by  winding  her  trunk  around  the 
leg  of  her  mate,  Roger.  Alice's  ankle  is  now  itf  a  big  plaster  cast, 

which  makes  her  leg  look  like  a  huge  fireproof  pipe. 

i 

No  doubt  Alice,  the  elephant,  suffered  as  much  from 
her  sprained  ankle  as  did  my  friend  Alice,  the  human 
being,  who  sprained  her  ankle  at  about  the  same  time 
by  slipping  on  another  banana  peel.  In  each  case  liga- 
ments that  held  the  bones  in  their  sockets  and  tendons 
that  held  the  muscles  to  the  bones  were  more  or  less 
pulled  from  their  firm  fastenings.  And  when  a  pull  does 
as  much  mischief  as  that,  recovery  is  often  slower  than 
in  the  case  of  a  broken  bone. 

51 


LOWER  LEG  WITH  ITS 

MUSCLES  AND  TENDONS 

(After  Schmidt) 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Bend  your  own  ankle  in  every  pos- 
sible direction  and  learn  what  you 
can  about  it  from  your  sensations  as 
you  twist  it.  Draw  up  the  muscles 
in  the  calf  of  your  leg  so  hard  that 
you  think  you  feel  the  spots  where 
they  are  fastened  to  the  bones  above 
and  below.  Now  recall  facts  which 
you  know7,  and  decide  what  is  taking 
place.  Remember  that  muscles  end 
in  tendons,  and  that  it  is  by  its  ten- 
don alone  that  a  muscle  is  able  to 
move  the  bone  which  supports  it. 

For  the  muscle  of  the  calf  of  the 
leg,  tendons  are  fastened  to  the  lower 
end  of  the  thigh  bone  and  to  the  heel 
bone,  and  the  work  of  contracting 
is  done  between  the  two  firmly  held 
points.  Through  this  muscular  con- 
traction we  walk  and  jump  and  run 
to  win  the  race  or  to  take  our  exer- 
cise. Tendons  must  be  strong  indeed 
when  they  refuse  to  give  way  even 
under  the  tremendous  strain  which 
is  put  upon  them.  Follow  the  facts 
about  the  biceps.  It  is  fitted  for  one 
particular  kind  of  work,  and  it  does 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 


53 


its  work  through  the  help  of  tendons  which  hold  one 
end  of  the  muscle  to  the  shoulder,  the  other 
end  to  a  bone  of  the  forearm.  When  the 
muscle  contracts  the  lower  bone  is  drawn  up, 
because,  although  the  tendons  themselves  do 
not  contract,  they  cling  to  the 

bones  and  thus  help  do  the  pull-       jt*5=or 

ing.    Without  tendons,   indeed, 

no  muscle  could  ever  move  a 

bone.    Muscles  of  the  back  are          A  THE  BICEPS 

held   to   the   spine,  which   they      //\  MUSCLE 

Control    by    tendons;    neck    mUS-    When  it  contracts  the  lower  bone 

is  drawn  up ;  the  dotted  line  shows 
cleS     hold     the     head     in     place    that  the  muscle  is  then  thicker  and 

by  tendons;    and    each    of   the 

twenty-four  ribs  has  its  own  supply 
of  muscles  and  tendons.  By  the 
contraction  of  the  muscles  the  ten- 
dons pull  the  ribs  up  where  we 
wish  them  to  be. 

The  serious  part  of  strained  ten- 
dons is  that  the  union  of  tendon 
and  bone  is  so  close  that,  in  a  bad 

MUSCLES  BETWEEN  THE  RIBS  sprain,  the  outside  covering  of  the 

When  the  muscles  contract     bone     itself     is      Sometimes     pulled 
the  ribs  are  drawn  up          away    wjth    the    tendon>     When    thjs 

happens  a  sprain   is  a  far  more   serious   affair  to   cure 
than  a  clean-cut  bone  break ;  for  the  broken  ends  of  a 


54 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


bone  knit  together  far  more  readily  than   do   the  torn 

ends  of  a  tendon. 

After  all,  however,  the  ligaments  and  bone  surfaces 

are  quite  as  important  to  us  as  the  tendon,  because  they 

determine  the  direction   in  which  a  bone  must  move. 

Some  of  them  allow  movement  in  one  direction,  some 

in  another.  Prove  this  for 
yourself.  By  every  twist  that 
you  can  make,  try  to  decide 
where  your  joints  are  and 
what  style  of  joint  each  one 
is.  You  will  find  that  some 
work  back  and  forth  like  a 
hinge,  while  others  have  the 
power  to  move  back  and  forth 
and  sidewise  too.  The  differ- 
ent kinds  of  movement  are 
the  result  of  different  kinds 


Bone 
tube 

Bone 
covering 


MUSCLE  ENDING  IN  TENDON;  TENDON  of  joints.    Each  is  needed  in 

FASTENED  TO  BONE  fa    particular   place. 

Begin  with  the  hinge  joint 

where  your  skull  is  joined  to  the  upper  end  bone  of  the 
spine.  This  allows  you  to  bend  your  head  up  and  down, 
and  nothing  more.  But  just  below,  bet  ween -the  next  two 
bones,  is  a  joint  of  another  sort.  This  allows  you  to  turn 
your  head  from  side  to  side.  Thanks  to  the  two  joints 
acting  as  one,  you  can  move  your  head  in  every  direction. 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 


55 


Whirl  your  arm  round  and  round  and  know  that  you 
are  using  the  most  movable  joint  in  the  entire  body.  It 
is  a  so-called  ball-and-socket  joint.  The  hip  is  supplied 
with  another  of  the  same  kind. 

When  we  think  of  the  work  which  the  hip  and  the 
knee   have   to    do   for  us,   and   of  the 
strain  we  are  ready  to  put  on  them  at 
any  moment,  we  understand  why  the 
hip  and  knee  joints  should  be  among 


HIP  JOINT  DRAWN  OPEN 

Notice  the  ligament  which  holds  the  ball  in 
its  socket 


BONES  AND  JOINTS 
OF  THE  LEG 


the  firmest  and  the  strongest  points  of  the  whole  body. 

The  knee  itself  is  a  wonderful  structure.    And  here 

we  have  an  admirable  chance  to  study  ligaments.    They 

are  firm  and  white  and  tough,  being  in  all  this  quite  like 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


THE  BACK  OF  THE  KNEE  JOINT 
(After  Schmidt) 


tendons.  Moreover,  when 
once  torn  they  are  as  slow 
to  heal  as  is  a  tendon. 
Ligaments  do  the  work 
of  holding  bones  to  each 
other,  whereas  tendons 
hold  muscles  to  bones. 

The  great  hinge  joint 
of  the  knee  is  supplied 
with  ligaments  which  al- 
low it  to  bend  one  way, 
but  which  absolutely  for- 
bid any  bending  in  an 
opposite  direction.  If  it 
were  not  for  the  stout 
ligaments  which 
hold  the  bones 


together   in   a   definite    relation,    our 
knees  would  bend  backwards  and  for- 


wards with  equal  ease,  and  walking   \ 


would  be  forever  out  of  the  question. 

Elbow  as  well  as  knee,  fingers  as 
well  as  toes,  —  all  act  on  the  plan  of 
the  hinge. 

Two  kinds  of  joints  are  thus  seen 
to  be  most  prominent  in  the  body  of 

1  m     J 

man:  (i)  ball  and  socket;  (2)  hinge. 


CuT 


HINGE  JOINT  OF  THE 

ELBOW 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 


57 


This  completes  the  outline  of  the  bony  and  muscular 
machinery  of  our  bodies.  We  have  seen  that  the  ends 
of  our  bones  are  shaped  to  meet  each  other,  that  they 


KNEE  JOINT  WHEN  STRAIGHT 

Notice  the  position  of  the  knee  pan 

(After  Schmidt) 


KNEE  JOINT  BENT  FAR  OVER 

Notice  the  ligaments  that  hold  the 
bones  together 

(After  Schmidt) 


are  carefully  fitted  together,  that  tough  ligaments  hold 
the  one  to  the  other,  and  that  muscles  end  in  tendons 
which  draw  the  bones  in  such  directions  as  the  joints 
allow. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED 

Various  public  schools  were  in  a  state  of  high  excite- 
ment during  the  spring  of  1905.  The  following  item  in 
the  New  York  Times  shows  the  reason  for  it : 

Schoolboy  athletes  are  to  hold  their  contests  on  the  roofs  of  the 
available  public  school  buildings  in  the  boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
Brooklyn.  .  .  .  Each  school  is  to  enter  five  boys  in  each  individual 
event,  and  two  teams  in  each  relay  race.  Medals  will  be  given  to  first, 
second,  and  third  in  each  event,  and  a  trophy  will  be  presented  "to  the 
school  scoring  the  most  points. 

Boys  under  thirteen,  in  these  events,  competed  in  the 
potato  race,  the  standing  broad  jump,  and  the  relay  race 
for  teams  of  four  boys,  each  running  twice  across  the  roof. 
Boys  under  fifteen  had  the  same  potato  race,  with  running 
higb  jump  instead  of  broad  jump;  and  in  the  relay  race 
of  four  boys,  each  ran  four  times  instead  of  twice  across 
the  roof.  Boys  over  fifteen  did  other  things  in  addition. 

Throughout  the  spring  of  that  year,  wherever  New 
York  boys  could  find  a  roof  large  enough  or  a  space  of 
ground  unoccupied,  there  they  went  for  fun,  for  exercise, 
and  for  trophies.  But  the  doctors  of  the  city,  the  fathers, 
the  mothers,  and  the  teachers  believed  most  in  the  exercise. 

58 


THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED      59 

They  were  sure  that  through  it  city  boys  might  gain 
the  greatest  prize  of  all  —  good  health;  and  they  were 
more  anxious  to  have  the  city  turn  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  boys  and  girls  into  healthy,  well-developed, 
long-lived  men  and  women,  than  to  have  it  turn  out 
a  few  wonderful  athletes  who  should  outrun  and  out- 
jump  all  other  boys  in  all  other  cities  in  America. 


THE  START  AND  THE  FINISH  OF  THE  HUNDRED-YARD  RUN 

The  truth  is  that  never  before  in  the  history  of  the 
world  has  so  much  attention  been  paid  to  the  health  of 
children  as  in  this  twentieth  century;  for,  in  the  first 
place,  the  laws  of  health  are  better  understood  to-day 
than  ever  before,  and  further,  the  children  themselves 
are  learning  to  judge  what  is  best  for  the  body. 

Perhaps  city  children  need  this  knowledge  most,  for, 
in  some  ways,  they  have  most  to  contend  against.  In 


60  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

tens  of  thousands  of  cases  real  exercise  for  city  children 
is  quite  out  of  the  question.  City  streets  are  too  narrow ; 
they  are  too  full  of  cars  and  carriages,  of  men  and  women 
and  hurrying  business  of  every  sort.  In  such  places 
groups  of  running  boys  and  girls  are  a  nuisance,  —  they 
are  impossible.  And  just  because  of  this,  athletic  leagues 
have  been  devised  to  help  out  the  situation.  The  great 
object  of  these  leagues  is  to  give  wholesome  exercise  to 
the  bodies  of  such  school  children  as  are  old  enough  to 
take  it.  The  way  this  is  managed  in  New  York  City  is 
most  businesslike : 

1.  The  boys  in  each  separate  school  of  each  of 
the  forty-six  school  districts  are  allowed  to  compete 
with  each  other,  and  the  best  are  chosen  champions 
of  each  school. 

2.  These  champions  compete  with  the  other  cham- 
pions of  the  schools  in  the  same  district  league,  and 
the  successful  school  becomes  champion  of  the  dis- 
trict.   There  is  then  a  joyful  celebration,  to  which 
an  officer  of  the  city  league  comes.     He  not  only 
listens  to  the  music  and  the  speeches  by  the  pupils, 
but,  at  the  proper  moment,  he  too  makes  a  speech 
and  presents  to  the  school  the  trophy  it  has  won. 
Sometimes   this  trophy   is  a   graceful    silver   cup, 
eighteen  inches  high,  bearing  the  date  of  the  vic- 
tory and  the   name  of   the  school.    Sometimes  it 
is   a  burnished  bronze   tablet  to  be  hung  on  the 


THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED      6 1 


school-room  wall.  In  every  case  it  is  to  stay  with 
the  school  for  a  year  at  least,  and  so  long  thereafter 
as  the  school  can  continue  to  hold  the  champion- 
ship of  the  district. 

3.  The  champion  school  in  each  district  league 
competes  with  each  of 
the  other  league  cham- 
pions, and  the  victor 
becomes  the  champion 
school  of  the  city.  No 
school  in  the  league  can 
win  a  higher  place  than 
this. 

The  beauty  of  these  con- 
tests is  that,  from  the  very 
start,  no  boy  feels  that  he 
works  for  himself  alone.  In- 
stead, each  victory  means 

•  AN  ALL-ROUND  CHAMPIONSHIP 

Victory  for  hlS  School.    Fellow-      TROpHY  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

Students    cheer   him,   for   they      ATHLETIC  LEAGUE,  NEW  YORK 

CITY 

know  and  he  knows  that  he 

has  won  success  for  them  as  well  as  for  himself.  For 
this  reason  each  boy  is  most  anxious  to  get  the  best  pos- 
sible service  from  his  body,  and  many  boys  are  shrewd 
enough  to  make  a  special  study  of  the  laws  of  success 
and  failure.  They  are  ready  to  do  such  things  as  help, 
and  to  avoid  such  things  as  may  hinder,  their  success. 


62 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


This  accounts  for  the  self-denial  which  many  of  them 
practice.  They  have  learned  that  the  best  athletic  train- 
ers of  college  teams  and  of  professional  athletes  through- 
out the  country  strictly  forbid  their  men  to  use  tobacco 
in  any  form.  The  boys  also  know  that  the  reason  for 
this  is  the  fact  that  tobacco  so  affects  the  heart  as  to 
reduce  a  man's  ability  to  do  his  best  muscular  work. 


A  HIGH  JUMP  AT  NINE  CONSECUTIVE  MOMENTS 

To  do  his  best  his  heart  must  be  in  good  condition 

(After  Schmidt) 

Boys  have  learned  from  these  same  trainers  that  alco- 
hol is  strictly  forbidden  because  it  reduces  the  power 
of  the  muscles.  Being  keen  enough  to  see  that  that 
which  helps  college  students  and  professional  athletes 
is  precisely  what  will  help  them,  the  most  determined 
of  these  boys  give  up  their  cigarettes  and  do  not  so 
much  as  begin  to  use  alcohol.  Multitudes  of  other 
boys  are,  of  course,  still  smoking  cigarettes,  but  in 


THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED      63 

thousands  of  these  cases  ignorance  explains  their  wil- 
lingness to  do  it. 

Any  class  or  school  that  is  interested  in  making 
scientific  investigations  for  itself  might  appoint  a  com- 
mittee to  look  into  the  school  records  and  into  the  run- 
ning and  jumping  records  of 
their  smoking  and  their  non- 
smoking classmates.  Inves- 
tigations of  this  kind  must 
be  carried  on  for  months, 
or  for  a  year  if  they  are  to 
prove  anything. 

As  a  rule,  at  the  end  of 
this  time  it  will  be  found 
that  those  boys  who  use  the 
most  cigarettes  are  doing 
the  poorest  work  both  in 
the  class  room  and  on  the 
athletic  field.  The  class  or 
the  school  that  wishes  to 
make  the  best  records  will 
therefore  be  forced  to  omit 
from  among  its  contestants  all  those  who  use  cigarettes. 
It  will  decide  that  it  cannot  afford  to  reduce  its  chance 
for  winning  just  because  certain  boys  are  either  ignorant 
about  the  laws  of  the  body,  or  because  they  are  already 
victims  of  the  cigarette  habit. 


MUSCLES  TIGHTENED  FOR  THE  JUMP 
(After  Schmidt) 


64  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Why  did  the  American  army  have  to  refuse  hun- 
dreds of  men  who  applied  and  who  were  ready  to  face 
death  for  the  sake  of  their  country?  In  a  large  number 
of  cases  it  was  because  these  men  had  a  certain  weak- 
ness of  the  heart  which  was  brought  on  by  tobacco,  and 
because,  when  a  man's  heart  is  troubled  in  this  particu- 
lar way,  he  is  not  likely  to  be  able  to  endure  the  exer- 
cise which  he  will  have  to  meet  as  a  soldier.  His  heart 
is  not  strong  enough  to  risk  it. 


A  HIGH  JUMP  FROM  ONE  FOOT 

It  shows  the  work  done  by  different  muscles  from  the  moment  the  man 
jumped  until  he  stood  on  his  feet  again 

(After  Schmidt) 

The  same  is  true  for  athletes  of  every  age  and  size  in 
whatever  land  they  may  be.  He  who  is  in  the  habit  of 
using  cigarettes  should  be  careful  how  he  ventures  to 
do  anything  that  will  call  for  sudden,  or  violent,  or  vig- 
orous use  of  his  muscles  and  his  heart.  Although  he 
may  still  be  able  to  run  as  fast  and  to  jump  as  high  as 
his  friend  or  his  schoolmate  who  does  not  smoke,  yet 
the  probability  is  that  he  has  the  sort  of  heart  that  the 
American  army  often  refuses  to  accept,  —  the  heart  that 
no  soldier  can  afford  to  own.  And  the  man  who  is 


THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED      65 

afflicted  in  this  way  cannot  expect  to  do  his  best  on 
the  athletic  field. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  know  what  the 
leading  trainers  of  the  country  actually  say  about  it. 

Mr.  Charles  E.Courtney  of  the  Cornell  navy  once  wrote: 

I  have  found  in  my  experience  that  young  men  are  much  better  off, 
and  do  better  work,  without  alcoholic  stimulants  than  with  them,  and 
they  are,  therefore,  absolutely  prohibited  in  our  training.  As  to  tobacco, 
I  believe  young  men  do  better  work  when  not  using  tobacco  than  when 
using  it,  and  it  is  prohibited  in  our  training  here  at  Cornell  University. 

In  1900  Mr.  Me  Bride,  captain  of  the  Yale  football 
team,  wrote : 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  a  college  or  school  athlete  who  is 
striving  to  win  a  place  on  any  team  to  have  endurance ;  especially  is 
this  true  in  rowing  and  football.  This  can  be  accomplished  to  the 
greatest  degree  only  by  abstaining  from  the  use  of  tobacco  and  alco- 
holic drinks  while  in  training  for  said  team. 

In  1901  Mr.  Edwards,  captain  of  the  Princeton 
football  team,  wrote: 

There  is  nothing  which  goes  to  make  a  better  athlete,  nothing 
which  gives  a  man  greater  power  of  endurance,  than  total  abstinence 
from  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  .  . .  No  one  is  expected  to  use  tobacco. 
A  man  who  is  using  tobacco  and  alcohol  contrary  to  orders  during  the 
season  is  easily  detected,  and  is  dropped  from  the  squad. 

In  1906  Mr.  A.  A.  Stagg  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
wrote : 

We  have  never  had  a  really  successful  long-distance  runner  at  the 
University  of  Chicago  who  was  a  smoker,  and  several  of  our  men  who 


66  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

have  been  successful,  like  Lightbody,  are  most  abstemious  in  their 
training  and  do  not  smoke.  The  best  sprinters  and  middle-distance 
runners  we  have  had  have  also  been  men  who  were  very  particular 
about  their  training  for  several  months  of  the  year.  ...  In  football,  as 
in  other  endurance  tests,  there  is  no  question  at  all  in  my  mind  that 
the  man  who  smokes  does  not  come  up  to  the  level  of  the  general  run 
of  nonsmokers. 

In  1906  Mr.  Gianini  of  the  New  York  Athletic  Club 
wrote : 

My  opinion  is  expressed  best  by  stating  that  I  forbid  the  use  of 
tobacco  in  any  form  by  men  under  my  charge  while  training. 

The  Arctic  traveler,  Nansen,  was  asked  by  a  neigh- 
bor, "  Did  you  take  any  alcohol  with  you  when  you  left 
the  Fram  to  make  your  heroic  expedition  by  sledges  ? " 
"  No,"  said  Nansen,  "  for  if  I  had  done  so,  I  should  never 
have  returned." 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK 

Let  some  one  hold  a  watch  and  be  prepared  to  make 
reports  while  you  and  perhaps  your  friends  test  your- 
selves in  various  ways. 

Stand  with  your  finger 
on  your  pulse  at  the  wrist, 
and  let  him  who  holds  the 
watch  decide  when  the 
counting  is  to  begin.  He 
will  say,  "Get  ready — now 
—  begin."  When  he  says 
•that  last  word  each  child 
should,  for  himself,  start  to 
count  the  regular  throb  of 
the  pulse  which  he  feels 
under  his  finger.  Let  him 
keep  on  counting  until,  at 

the  end  of  One  minute,  the  COUNTING  THE  PULSE  BEAT 

timekeeper  says,  "Stop."  You  will  then  have  your  record. 

If  you  are  not  excited,  if  you  have  not  been  exercising 

hard  beforehand,  if  you  have  made  no  mistake  in  your 

counting,  the  number  of  beats  which  you  feel  will  show 

67 


68 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


what  your  regular  everyday  pulse  beat  is.  This  is  an  im- 
portant point  gained.  You  have  secured  your  standard  for 
the  standing  position.  You  are  ready  for  the  next  test. 

Stand  perfectly  still,  and,  while  the  timekeeper  follows 
the  time  again,  open  and  shut  your  hand  as  fast  and  as 

hard  as  you  can  for  an  entire 
minute.  Then  once  more  count 
your  pulse.  You  may  find  that 
it  has  gained  a  trifle.  This  will 
depend  on  the  vigor  with  which 
you  have  worked  the  muscles  of 
your  hand.  In  any  case,  how- 
ever, the  muscles  there  are  small 
and  you  will  not  get  much  of 
a  result  in  the  way  of  a  more 
rapid  beat. 

Turn,    therefore,   to  the    leg 
muscles  of  the  body.   Use  them 
HE  COUNTS  BOTH  PULSE  BEAT   vigorously.    Let  each  child  run 

AND  HEART  BEAT 

up  one  flight  of  stairs  and  back, 

and  at  once  count  the  pulse  again.  You  will  find  a 
marked  change.  From  eighty  or  over  at  the  start,  you 
have  probably  increased  the  count  by  one  half  or  more. 
In  addition  to  the  above  tests  make  one  more.  Even 
while  the  fingers  of  your  left  hand  are  feeling  the  pulse 
in  your  right  wrist,  place  your  right  hand  over  your 
heart.  You  will  discover  that  the  pulse  beat  and  the 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK  69 

heart  beat  occur  at  the  same  instant.  And  now,  if  you 
were  not  uncomfortably  out  of  breath  after  the  run  up 
one  flight,  try  two  flights  for  a  second  test  and  notice 
that  the  number  of  beats  has  increased  both  at  the  wrist 
and  at  the  heart.  You  have  proved  for  yourself  that  the 
pulse  beat  may  be  depended  on  to  show  what  the  rate 
of  the  heart  beat  is. 

The  following  table  shows  what  such  exercise  did  for  a 
small  class  of  children  in  a  New  York  school.  The  letters 
of  the  alphabet  stand  for  the  names  of  the  children. 

TESTS  SHOWING  EFFECTS  OF  EXERCISE  ON  THE 
HEART  BEAT  PER  MINUTE 

Normal  After  Short, 

Pulse  Quick  Run 

A 85 130 

Bo 83 142 

C 71 U3 

I> 85 95 

E 85 113 

F 88 120 

G  ........  83    .......     95 

H  .     .     .    v  1 1    .     .     .  84    .     .     .     .     .     .     .     87 

I '  .  .         9O  .  .  .  .  o  .  .          114 

J  ........  98  .......  130 

K 85     ..,...,     94 

L  .     . 85     .     .     o     .     .     .     .  no 

M 83    •     .     . •'  .     .     .     .  104 

N  .  .  r 87  .....  ....  .  115 

Each  child  was  tested  again  within  a  minute  after  the 
run,  and  already  the  pulse  was  found  to  be  beating  more 


70  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

slowly.  This  rapid  return  to  the  normal  beat  is  the  sign 
of  a  healthy  heart. 

At  different  times,  on  different  days,  test  yourself  in 
other  ways.  Count  your  pulse  when  you  get  up  rested 
in  the  morning  and  when  you  go  to  bed  tired  at  night. 
Count  it  before  and  after  your  cold  bath  in  the  morning. 
Count  it  before  and  after  any  variety  of  exercise  that  in- 
terests you.  For  example,  run  to  school  one  morning, 
walk  to  school  another  morning,  and  compare  the  results 
of  both  with  your  standard.  Compare  the  number  of 
beats  of  the  heart  that  has  done  hard  work  with  those 
of  the  heart  that  has  done  light  work,  and  learn  to  know 
what  gives  your  heart  the  most  exercise.  Knowledge  in 
this  line  will  serve  you  well  in  deciding  how  to  do  the 
most  for  yourself  in  the  shortest  space  of  time.  What 
you  learn  now  will  be  applied  in  a  later  chapter. 

It  would  be  quite  worth  while  to  keep  your  different 
records  written  down  in  a  notebook  of  some  sort  for 
future  reference.  Already,  however,  you  have  learned 
that  exercise  makes  the  heart  beat  faster,  and  that  the 
larger  the  muscles  are,  and  the  harder  the  work  you 
give  them  to  do,  —  running,  for  example,  —  the  more 
exercise  will  you  give  the  heart.  You  have  also  learned 
that  the  pulse  may  always  be  trusted  to  tell  how  the 
heart  is  acting. 

It  is  for  this  last  reason  that  a  doctor  feels  the  pulse 
of  his  patient.  By  the  regular  or  the  irregular  beat  of 


THE  HEART  WHEN   IT  IS  AT  WORK  71 

that  pulse,  by  the  way  it  hurries  and  by  the  way  it 
drags,  he  is  guided  in  his  judgment  as  to  what  the  con- 
dition of  the  patient  is,  and  what  ought  to  be  done  to 
help  him.  The  heart,  indeed,  is  one  of  the  vital  centers 
of  our  activities.  We  are  well  or  ill,  we  live  or  die, 
through  the  work  which  it  does  or  fails  to  do.  Yet  the 
ignorant  are  often  misled  by  its  action. 

I  am  acquainted  with  a  frail  woman  who  supposed  for 
years  that  she  had  heart  trouble.  She  judged  this  by 
the  fact  that  her  heart  beat  hard  and  fast  when  she  went 
upstairs,  and  that  she  lost  breath  easily  when  she  went 
for  a  walk.  Since  she  had  heart  trouble,  as  she  thought, 
she  decided  that  she  must  spare  her  heart  as  much  as 
possible,  —  that  she  must  do  nothing  that  would  set  it 
into  vigorous  action.  At  last  she  became  so  anxious  that 
she  consulted  a  doctor,  who  assured  her  that  her  heart 
was  thoroughly  sound.  "  It  is  weak,  of  course,"  he  said, 
"but  how  could  it  be  otherwise?  You  say  you  have 
been  afraid  to  take  any  exercise  for  twenty  years." 
"  Yes,"  she  answered ;  "  I  wished  to  be  on  the  safe  side." 
He  smiled  in  a  queer  way  and  said:  "The  safe  side 
would  have  been  to  give  your  heart  a  little  energetic 
exercise  regularly.  We  need  to  train  the  heart  just  as 
we  train  any  other  muscle  of  the  body.  The  simple 
trouble  with  your  heart  is  that  you  have  never  given  it 
a  chance  to  get  strong."  Being  a  sensible  woman,  my 
friend  began  at  once  to  follow  the  doctor's  suggestion. 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


This,  then,  is  one  extreme  to  which  a  person  may  go. 
On  the  other  hand  we  have  the  bicycle  rider  who  over- 
taxes his  heart  so  persistently  as  to  injure  it  for  life,  and 
the  boys  who  run  long  or  hard  races  before  their  hearts 

have    been    trained   for 
such  violent  exercise. 

It  seems  that  the  heart 
is  a  strong,  hollow  muscle, 
about  as  large  as  the  fist 
of  the  one  for  whom  it 
works;  and  that  even 
when  it  is  not  put  under 
extra  pressure  it  does 
more  work  than  any 
other  muscle  in  the  body. 
It  lies  under  the  ribs,  be- 
tween the  two  halves  of 
the  lungs,  and  keeps  up 
its  beating  from  birth  to 
death.  It  does,  indeed, 
take  more  exercise  than 
any  other  muscle ;  never- 
theless, like  every  other  muscle,  additional  exercise  gives 
it  strength,  while  lack  of  additional  exercise  leaves  it  weak. 
In  training  this  important  muscle  we  must  remember 
that  most  human  beings  have  sound  hearts  that  need  to 
be  treated  in  a  reasonable  way. 


THE  HEART  AND  ITS  GREAT 
BLOOD  VESSELS 

We  are  well  or  ill,  we  live  or  die,  by  the 
work  it  does  or  fails  to  do 


THE  HEART  WHEN   IT  IS  AT  WORK 


73 


A  neighbor  of  ours  had  taken  no  special  exercise  all 
winter,  but  when  spring  came  he  began  abruptly  by 
playing  one  set  of  tennis  after  another,  without  resting 
between  the  different  sets.  The  end  of  it  was  that  for 
many  days  and  nights  his  heart  kept  up  a  rapid  beat- 
ing. For  three  weeks,  indeed, 
it  refused  to  come  down  to 
normal,  and  during  this  time 
the  man  dared  take  no  exer- 
cise. He  knew  it  would  be 
unsafe. 

If  he  had  been  careful 
to  begin  his  tennis  playing 
gradually  that  spring,  in- 
creasing the  amount  from 
day  to  day,  he  would  have 
done  better  work,  would 
have  spared  his  heart  the 
overstrain,  and  would  have 
saved  himself  those  weeks  of 
time  when  he  could  take  no  vigorous  exercise  whatever. 

Watch  those  who  race  to  catch  a  train  or  car.  By 
the  way  they  breathe  you  may  know  what  the  heart 
is  doing.  You  will  also  be  able  to  tell  which  of  the 
running  men  and  women  have  trained  their  hearts  for 
sudden  sprints  of  violent  work,  and  which  are  pressing 
untrained  hearts  into  unusual  service.  College  students 


THE  CHAMPION  PLAYER  AT  A 
CRITICAL  MOMENT 


74  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

often  run  by  the  mile  across  the  town  and  out  into 
the  country.  They  are  training  not  only  the  many 
muscles  of  their  legs,  but  also  the  one  muscle  of  the 
heart  and  their  breathing  apparatus.  They  wish  to 
train  their  leg  muscles,  while  at  the  same  time  they 
secure  for  themselves  hearts  and  lungs  that  will  be 
useful  as  long  as  their  legs  are  able  to  keep  up  the 
running. 

A  doctor  whom  I  know  speaks  of  a  man  whom  he 
himself  trained.  He  says: 

When  I  took  charge  of  him,  the  man  could  not  run  as  far  as  from 
here  to  the  door  without  fainting.  He  simply  had  a  muscularly  weak 
heart,  excited  by  nervous  shock  and  overwork,  worry,  deficient  nutri- 
tion, and  lack  of  sleep.  I  first  discovered  that  there  was  no  organic 
disease.  Nothing  but  plain  building  up  of  muscle  was  needed.  Then 
I  went  to  work  and  started  to  build  up  that  muscle.  I  would  have  him 
run  a  few  steps  and  then  lie  down  three  minutes,  then  run  a  few  steps 
more  and  lie  down.  I  stood  by,  keeping  track  of  his  heart,  not  allow- 
ing him  to  do  enough  work  to  send  it  above  one  hundred  and  not  letting 
him  run  again  until  it  got  back  to  normal.  I  kept  him  at  it  half  an 
hour  three  times  a  day,  from  day  to  day  increasing  the  doses ;  that  is, 
I  stuck  to  the  medicine,  but  I  gave  very  small  doses,  —  doses  suited  to 
the  strength  of  heart  he  then  had.  In  three  months  that  man  could  run 
eight  miles  an  hour  with  great  ease  and  comfort.  Since  then  he  has 
not  known  that  he  has  a  heart. 

This  doctor  also  speaks  of  a  friend  of  his  who  ran  up 
eight  flights  of  stairs  because  of  a  fire,  and  so  over- 
strained his  heart  that  it  has  never  been  right  since. 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK  75 

The  point  of  all  this  is  that  when  the  heart  has  done 
what  it  comfortably  can,  and  then  has  to  do  still  more 
work  and  keep  it  up,  it  stretches  too  much  for  its  own 
good.  And  worse  still,  if  it  is  stretched  badly  enough, 
it  stays  stretched.  This  is  part  of  the  trouble  with  the 
overworked  heart  of  the  bicycle  rider.  Athletic  trainers 
understand  these  facts  thoroughly.  It  is  therefore  as 
much  for  the  sake  of  the  muscle  of  the  heart  as  for  the 
benefit  of  leg  muscles  that  they  insist  that  only  those 
who  have  been  trained  for  the  contests  shall  be  allowed 
to  compete  in  athletic  games.  Otherwise  the  untrained 
person  might  faint  in  the  midst  of  the  sport,  and  this  is 
not  only  harmful  to  himself  but  quite  as  unpleasant  for 
those  who  are  watching  the  contest. 

The  safe  rule  is  to  give  the  heart  all  the  exercise  it 
can  comfortably  take  at  one  time,  and  to  increase  the 
amount  as  fast  as  its  power  increases. 

As  a  rule,  the  actual  size  of  the  normal  heart  is  pro- 
portioned to  the  work  it  has  had  to  do.  Animals  kept  in 
cages  and  captivity  have  been  examined  after  death  and 
their  hearts  have  been  seen  to  be  smaller  than  the  aver- 
age heart  of  wild  animals  of  the  same  species.  In  pro- 
portion to  its  size,  the  heart  of  a  stag  is  about  twice  as 
large  as  that  of  a  pig.  The  reason  is  plain.  The  stag 
lives  by  exercise  which  makes  the  heart  work ;  the  pig, 
however,  in  his  slow  life,  seldom  indulges  in  any  unusual 
exercise. 


;6  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Provided  the  matter  is  not  overdone,  nothing  is  better 
for  heart  development  than  exercise  which  calls  for  en- 
durance. A  quick  run  for  a  minute  or  a  good  jog  trot 
lasting  five  minutes  are  as  good  as  anything  that  can  be 
devised.  Run  as  you  go  to  school  in  the  morning;  run 
on  the  way  home  at  night.  At  each  time  run  a  little, 
then  walk  a  little.  Run  only  so  much  as  you  can 
quickly  recover  from.  Indulge  when  you  can  in  a  good 
outdoor  game.  By  your  pulse  beat  and  by  the  way  you 
keep  your  breath  or  lose  it,  you  will  know  what  you 
may  do.  It  is  much  better  to  begin  with  too  little  exer- 
cise than  with  too  much,  for  you  are  going  to  make 
steady  gain  whatever  your  starting  point  is;  and  you 
gain  most  by  going  moderately  at  first. 

Throughout  his  entire  life,  he  who  has  a  well-devel- 
oped heart  will  also  have  more  vigor,  more  power  to 
endure,  more  courage  than  he  otherwise  would  have. 


CHAPTER  X 

DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN 

Certain  facts  about  the  connection  between  the  heart 
beat  and  the  pulse  are  so  well  known  to-day  that  we  are 
in  danger  of  forgetting  the  debt  we  owe  to  two  great  men, 
—  Galen  the  Greek,  and  Harvey  the  Englishman. 

Before  Galen  was  born  in  the  year  130  A.D.,  learned 
men  did  indeed  know  that  life  stops  when  the  heart 
stops  beating;  they  knew  that  the  blood  of  the  body 
is  contained  in  tubes;  they  saw  that  these  tubes  are 
largest  near  the  heart  and  that  they  divide  and  con- 
tinue to  divide  until  each  muscle  and  organ  of  the  body 
is  provided  with  its  own  unfailing  blood  supply.  They 
also  studied  the  tubes  themselves,  and  saw  that  they 
are  different  enough  to  have  two  names. 

Thus  far  in  their  investigations  those  ancients  had 
learned  well.  But  now  we  stumble  on  their  strange 
error.  "  Veins,"  they  said,  "  are  filled  with  blood,"  —  a 
correct  statement.  "  But  arteries,"  said  they,  "  are  filled 
with  air,"  —  an  incorrect  statement.  The  meaning  of 
the  word  "  artery  "  itself  proclaims  their  mistaken  belief, 
for  in  Greek  it  means  nothing  else  thap  air  tube. 
Although  these  ancient  scientists  made  this  mistake, 

77 


78  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

they  described  the  structure  of  both  veins  and  arteries 
much  as  we  see  them  to-day.  In  course  of  time  they 
even  found,  as  we  do,  that  the  one  great  distinction  of 
the  veins  is  that  they  are  supplied  with%  numberless 
pockets  on  the  inside  lining  of  each  tube  throughout 
its  entire  length. 

This  was  necessary,  they  said,  because  veins  carried 
blood ;  whereas  air  tubes  —  arteries — needed  no  pockets, 
because  they  were  filled  with  a  substance  called  u  vital 
spirits." 

This  belief  of  former  scientists  was  perhaps  not  so 
strange  as  it  seems  to  us.  The  truth  is,  they  were  led 
into  error  by  the  fact  that  after  death  the  blood  of  the 
body  settles  in  the  veins,  not  in  the  arteries.  That  is, 
when  a  man  is  dead  his  veins  are  distended  with  blood, 
while  his  arteries  stand  up  firm  and  round  but  quite 
empty.  Those  who  investigated  the  subject  came  to 
their  conclusion,  therefore,  in  the  most  natural  way. 
Then  too,  since  the  veins  did  certainly  hold  blood,  they 
saw  no  reason  why,  during  life,  another  set  of  tubes 
should  also  be  filled  with  the  same  fluid.  They  did 
not  appreciate  the  difference  between  the  two  kinds 
of  blood  which  we  know  about. 

But  Galen  the  Greek  was  born.  He  practiced  medi- 
cine in  Rome,  and  was  so  great  a  student  of  the  human 
body  that,  for  fourteen  hundred  years  afterwards,  what 
he  had  said  and  written  about  health,  and  medicine,  and 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN   ENGLISHMAN      79 

the  structure  of  the  body  of  man  was  taught  and  be- 
lieved in  every  school  of  medicine  in  Europe.  He  was 
indeed  the  medical  authority  for  the  world. 

Among  other  subjects  he  fastened  his  attention  on 
these  same  arteries  and  veins,  testing  them  and  exam- 
ining them  in  different  ways.  The  result  was  that,  step 
by  step,  he  made  progress.  First  he  began  to  doubt 
what  he  had  been  taught.  Next  he  doubted  absolutely. 
But  from  doubt  he  moved  on  to  a  positive  belief.  When 
this  belief  was  firm  in  his  own  mind  he  declared  pub- 
licly that  arteries  as  well  as  veins  hold  the  blood  of  the 
living  body. 

The  scientific  world  was  amazed.  It  disbelieved.  It 
said,  "  If  you  load  up  both  sets  of  tubes  with  blood, 
how  are  the  vital  spirits  to  get  round  ?  "  Galen  replied 
by  proof  and  by  argument.  He  talked  and  he  wrote 
until  the  other  scientists  of  the  time  were  as  convinced 
as  he.  They  finally  accepted  his  belief  that  there  are 
two  kinds  of  blood:  one  kind  in  the  veins,  dark  and 
rich  and  thick,  which  was  supposed  to  nourish  the 
heavier  parts  of  the  body;  another  in  the  arteries,  light 
and  bright  and  red,  well  mixed  with  vital  spirits,  which 
was  supposed  to  do  the  lighter  and  the  finer  work  for 
muscle  and  tissue. 

He  believed  that  both  kinds  of  blood  were  found 
everywhere  because  both  kinds  were  needed  for  the 
special  help  which  each  could  give.  He  also  believed 


80  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

that  all  this  blood  moved  back  and  forth,  here  and 
there,  in  haphazard  fashion  through  the  blood  vessels, 
—  that  it  shifted  and  drifted  somewhat  as  the  tides  of 
the  ocean  move  hither  and  thither. 

As  for  the  connection  between  the  heart  and  the 
blood  which  we  talk  so  much  about,  even  Galen  made 
no  discovery  about  this.  He  believed  that  the  heart 
expanded  for  the  sake  of  drawing  to  itself  breath  from 
the  lungs  to  be  mixed  with  the  blood,  and  that  it  con- 
tracted simply  to  get  rid  of  such  blood  as  it  did  not 
need. 

Much  that  Galen  taught  continued  to  be  believed 
until  William  Harvey  made  his  great  contribution  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  world.  In  1616  we  find  him 
lecturing  in  London.  He  was  thirty-eight  years  old 
at  the  time.  But  when  he  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
nine,  he  had  added  such  a  volume  of  scientific  facts  to 
those  which  Galen  had  discovered,  that  during  these 
three  hundred  years  since  then  the  two  names  have 
stood  side  by  side  on  the  honored  roll  of  those  who 
have  transformed  the  beliefs  of  the  human  race. 

Naturally,  of  course,  Harvey  began  his  work  where 
Galen  and  his  successors  left  off.  He  built  on  foun- 
dations which  Galen  had  laid;  but  he  was  as  inde- 
pendent of  past  beliefs  as  Galen  himself  had  been. 
Whenever  he  had  the  opportunity,  whether  with  men 
or  animals,  whether  with  those  that  were  well  or  ill, 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN      8 1 

alive  or  dead,  he  studied  their  bodies  and  gave  special 
attention  to  the  action  of  the  heart  and  to  any  connec- 
tion which  it  might  have  with  the  blood  supply. 

In  the  case  of  wounded  animals,  at  different  times  he 
laid  his  hand  on  the  heart  and  noticed  that  with  each 
throb  the  blood  left  the  wound  with  a  spurt,  and  he 
saw  that  blood  which  spurted  in  jets  from  a  wound  was 
always  of  the  bright  red  kind. 

Then  too  he  came  across  wounds  that  bled  in  a  dif- 
ferent way.  With  them  the  blood  simply  poured  out  in 
a  quiet,  dark-purplish  stream.  In  such  cases  there  was 
no  sudden  increase  of  flow  with  the  heart  beat.  He 
found  that  the  same  was  true  for  wounds  in  man  and 
beast  alike ;  that  is,  bright  blood  came  in  jets  while  dark 
blood  came  in  a  quiet  stream.  Moreover,  he  saw  that  it 
was  always  true  that  when  the  heart  beat  slowly  the 
pulse  at  the  wrist  was  slow  too. 

These  important  observations,  added  to  many  experi- 
ments which  he  himself  made,  drew  Harvey's  thoughts 
more  and  more  to  questions  about  circulation.  It  then 
occurred  to  him  that  the  heart  might  be  a  special  ma- 
chine for  pumping  bright-colored  blood  out  into  the 
arteries,  and  the  thought  of  such  a  possibility  was  ex- 
citing even  to  himself. 

Through  yet  other  experiments  and  constant  thought 
on  the  subject,  his  suspicions  gradually  changed  to  con- 
victions. He  became  very  sure  that  every  pulse  beat  in 


82  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

the  artery  at  the  wrist  means  that  the  heart  has  pumped 
a  fresh  supply  of  blood  into  the  large  artery,  the  aorta, 
which  is  joined  directly  to  it,  and  that  the  elastic 
tubes  have  expanded  throughout  their  entire  length  to 
make  room  for  it.  He  knew,  as  we  do,  that  the  largest 
arteries  are  buried  deeper  in  the  body  than  the  veins, 
and  that  only  at  certain  spots  do  they  come  near 
enough  to  the  surface  to  allow  us  to  feel  the  effect  of 
the  heart  beat.  He  noticed  that  there  is  never  any 
throb  in  a  vein,  and  this  strengthened  his  conviction 
that  no  vein  ever  receives  blood  directly  from  the 
throbbing  heart. 

By  traveling  the  road  which  he  took  we  have  come 
upon  Harvey's  first  great  discovery.  I  give  it: 

The  heart  pumps  blood  into  the  arteries. 

The  scientific  world  was  even  more  excited  over  this 
announcement  than  it  had  been  over  Galen's  discovery. 
But  Harvey  himself  went  quietly  on  with  his  investiga- 
tions. He  saw  that  the  heart  pumps  by  contracting  and 
expanding;  that  the  average  human  body  holds  about 
six  quarts  of  blood;  that  the  heart  sends  about  half  a 
tumblerful  of  blood  into  the  aorta  every  time  it  contracts ; 
and  that,  since  the  heart  beats  about  seventy  times  a 
minute,  an  enormous  quantity  of  blood  must  be  squeezed 
out  of  it  during  each  half  hour. 

He  did  some  multiplying,  as  we  ourselves  might  do 
just  here,  and  decided  that  if  the  heart  sends  out  over 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN      83 

one  thousand  tumblerfuls  of  blood  every  hour,  and  if 
the  body  holds  no  more  than  twenty-four  tumblerfuls, — 
that  is,  six  quarts,  —  the  enormous  supply  must  be  ex- 
plained somehow.  Where  did  it  all  come  from?  This 
was  Harvey's  next  great  problem. 

One  sign  after  another  led  him  to  suspect  that  the 
veins  might  hold  the  explanation.  He  therefore  tested 
veins  and  arteries  too, 
as  we  ourselves  may  do. 

Draw  up  your  sleeve, 
swing  your  arm  round 
your  head  once  or  twice, 
let  it  hang  by  your  side 
for  a  minute,  and  you 
will  notice  that  some  of 

the  blood  Vessels  appear    A  shows  a  vein  slit  lengthwise  and  laid  open; 

B   shows    a  vein   cut    through    lengthwise; 
aS  dark   lines   Under  the    c  shows  how  a  vein  looks  from  the  outside 

skin.  Stroke  these  lines  when  its  valves  are  filled  with  blood 
down  towards  the  wrist.  They  are  veins,  and  the  little 
bunches  which  stand  out  show  where  the  valves  have 
caught  the  blood.  Remember  that  these  valves  are  on 
the  inside  lining  of  every  vein,  and  that  they  always 
open  towards  the  heart.  During  the  time,  then,  that  the 
blood  in  the  veins  flows  steadily  towards  the  heart,  the 
valves  lie  flat  and  smooth  against  the  lining  and  you 
would  not  suspect  their  presence.  But  try  to  drive  that 
blood  away  from  the  heart,  and  quickly  every  valve  is  so 


A  B 

POCKET  VALVES  IN  THE  VEINS 


84 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


filled  that  it  stands  out  like  a  little  pouch  and  helps 
block  the  passage  of  the  blood  backwards.  The  nature 
of  the  veins,  therefore,  helped  Harvey  on  towards  his 
next  discovery. 

While    your   left   arm    is  still   uncovered,  press   and 
squeeze  it  with  your  right  hand,  stroking  towards  the 

elbow  to  hasten  the  blood  out  of 
the  veins.  Now,  as  quickly  as  you 
can,  tie  a  firm  bandage  about  the 
arm  just  above  the  elbow.  Tie 
this  bandage  as  tight  as  you 
can  without  giving  yourself  pain. 
Within  a  few  seconds  notice  how 
you  feel,  and  notice  the  color  of 
your  hand.  It  remains  pale  and 
it  grows  cold. 

Arteries  are  buried  deep,  veins 
are  near  the  surface.  Your  band- 
age is  therefore  checking  the  flow 

A  HANDKERCHIEF  AND  A  STICK     jn  both  gets  Q£  blood  vessds     and 

TO  COMPRESS  AN  ARTERY 

.   ,,     rt:u ." '.      j  n.  u    j     because  no  blood  can  get  into  the 

As  the  stick  is  turned  the  band- 
age is  pulled  tighter  arm,  the  color  of  it  stays  about 

(After  Tracy)  as  wnen  you  tied  the  bandage. 

Above  the  elbow,  however,  you  feel  a  throbbing,  because 
the  blood  in  the  arteries  is  held  back  by  the  dam  of  the 
bandage.  Loosen  this  bandage  a  little.  You  have  now 
lifted  the  pressure  from  the  arteries,  and  blood  hurries 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN      85 

towards  the  hand.  But  the  veins  are  under  pressure  still ; 
notice  what  is  happening.  Blood  is  entering  through  the 
arteries ;  it  cannot  escape  through  the  veins  because  of 
the  pressure  of  the  bandage.  As  a  result  the  hand  grows 
red  and  swollen  from  its  unusual  supply.  Release  the 
bandage  entirely,  and  in  al- 
most no  time  those  veins  have 
relieved  themselves.  Blood  is 
once  more  streaming  upwards. 

Such  experiments  as  these 
and  others  led  Harvey  to  his 
second  announcement.  He 
declared  to  his  astonished 
friends  that: 

The  heart  receives  its  entire 
blood  supply  from  the  veins. 

To  complete  this  account, 

,         ,  .  ,    A,  vein  that  brings  blood  to  the  auricle; 

turn  to  the  heart  again  and  ^auricie;  c,  valves  that  are  forced 
remember  the  following  facts  °Pen  by  the  blood  as  k  Passes  into 

the  ventricle ;  Z>,  ventricle ;  £,  tube 
about  it  '.  through  which  blood  goes  to  the  lungs 

1.  The  heart  is  a  pow-  to  be  purified 

erful  muscle.    It  does  its  work  by  contracting  and 
relaxing. 

2.  The  heart   is  made   up   of   two  halves;    and 
the  wall  of  muscle  between  these  separate  halves 
is  so  firmly  closed  that  after  birth,  and  after  the 
heart    is    in    good   working    order,   not    a   drop    of 


THE  RIGHT  AURICLE  AND 
VENTRICLE 


86 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


blood   ever   passes    through   it    from    one    side    to 
the  other. 

3.  Each  half  of  the  heart  has  two  divisions,  the 
smaller  called  the  auricle,  the  larger  called  the 
ventricle. 


TWO    VIEWS    OF   THE    SAME    VENTRICLE   TO    SHOW    THE    VALVES 

On  the  left  biood  enters ;  on  the  right  the  ventricle  contracts 
and  forces  the  blood  onward 

4.  Each  auricle  and  each  ventricle  has  its  own 
opening,  i£s  own  tube  for  blood,  and  its  own  valves 
to  prevent  the  blood  from  running  the  wrong  way. 

5.  The  auricle  in  each  half  of  the  heart  always  re- 
ceives the  blood  and  sends  it  into  its  own  ventricle. 

6.  Each  ventricle  receives  blood   from   its  own 
auricle  and  §ends  it  off  to  its  own  district  of^the 
body. 

At  this  point  we  reach  a  most  interesting  fact  about 
this  process  of  circulation;  yet  it  may  be  given  in  a  few 


D 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN      87 

easy  words.    One  side  of  the  heart  receives  blood  from 

the  body  and  sends  it  to  the  lungs ;  the  other  side  of  the 

heart    receives    blood  from 

the  lungs  and  sends  it  to  the 

body.   We  see,  then,  that  one 

side  always  deals  with  pure 

blood  alone,  for  all  that  comes 

to  it  is  fresh  from  the  lungs 

and  is  sent  onward  in  the  same 

condition;  while  the  other  side 

deals  with  impure  blood  alone, 

for   all   that  comes   to   it   is 

from  the  body  after  it  has  been 

used,  and  it  goes  onward  to 

the  lungs  in  that  condition  to 

be  purified. 

Thus  the  entire  blood 
supply  of  the  body,  on  each 
journey  round,  passes  through 
both  sides  of  the  heart  and 
through  the  lungs  before  it 
goes  back  to  nourish  the  body. 
This  was  Harvey's  great  dis- 
covery about  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  Even  for 
him,  however,  there  was  a  mystery  which  the  microscope 
alone  could  solve.  The  next  chapter  will  speak  about  it. 


THE  FOUR  CAVITIES  OF  THE 
HEART 

A,  auricle  ;  B,  ventricle  ;   C,  outline 
of  the  heart;  D,D,  blood  vessels 

The  dark  side  receives  impure  blood 
from  the  body  and  sends  it  to  the 
lungs ;  the  light  side  receives  pure 
blood  from  the  lungs  and  sends  it 
to  the  body 


CHAPTER  XI 

TO  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND  BACK 

To  complete  the  proof  about  blood  which  makes  its 
regular  journey  from  the  heart  round  the  body  and  back 
again,  scientists  have  the  testimony  of  the  blood  itself. 
They  have  taken  a  syringe  as  slender  as  a  needle,  and  by 
its  use  have  pricked  some  harmless  chemical  into  a  vein 
on  one  side  of  the  body  of  a  horse  or  of  a  man.  They 
have  then  examined  blood  drop  by  drop  from  the  cor- 
responding vein  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  body  until 
the  same  chemical  has  appeared  there. 

By  comparing  the  time  when  the  substance  was  put 
in,  with  the  time  when  they  find  it  again,  they  know  how 
long  it  takes  for  blood  to  make  the  entire  circuit  of  the 
body.  The  following  table  gives  results : 

For  a  horse,  twenty-five  seconds. 
For  a  full-grown  man,  twenty- three  seconds. 
For  a  child  of  fourteen,  eighteen  seconds. 
For  a  child  of  three,  fifteen  seconds. 

Evidently  each  set  of  tubes  and  each  heart  does  its 
work  more  or  less  rapidly,  according  to  the  distance 
which  the  blood  has  to  travel.  But  for  each  one  of  us 
the  road  which  the  blood  takes  is  ever  the  same.  The 

88 


VEINS  AND  ARTERIES 

Black  tubes  represent  veins  through  which  impure  blood  goes  to  the  right  side 

of  the  heart  from  all  parts  of  the  body ;  light-colored  tubes  represent  arteries 

through  which  pure  blood  from  the  left  side  of  the  heart  goes  to  all  parts  of 

the  body.    Notice  that  the  large  tubes  of  each  kind  lie  near  one  another 

89 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


steps  of  its  progress  are  veins,  heart,  lungs,  heart,  arteries, 
veins.  When  the  chemical  is  found  it  is  on  its  return 
trip  to  the  heart. 

Even  this  experiment  does  not,  however,  show  how 
the   blood   gets  across  from   the  arteries  to  the  veins 

for  its  journey  back. 
Harvey  himself  was 
not  sure  about  this, 
for  he  had  no  micro- 
scope. But  when  the 
microscope  came  with 
its  revelations,  doubts 
and  questions  were 
cleared  away.  Instead 
of  blood  spread  about 
everywhere  among 
the  muscles  under  the 
skin  between  the  ar- 
teries and  the  veins, 
there  was  found  to  be 
no  blood  anywhere 
outside  of  the  tubes.  Moreover,  each  drop  of  blood  was 
found  to  be  a  part  of  the  ceaseless  stream  which  flows 
through  tubes  that  divide  and  subdivide  until  they  are 
too  small  for  the  unaided  eye  to  see,  then  unite  and 
continue  to  unite  until  they  are  again  large  enough  to 
be  seen. 


UNION  OF  ARTERIES  AND  VEINS 

rt,  artery;  z>,  vein.     A  network  of  capillaries 
joins  them 


TO  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND  BACK  91 

From  the  heart  and  back  again,  all  the  blood  of  the 
body  is  seen  to  be  closely  inclosed  in  these  larger  and 
smaller  tubes.  This  is  what  the  microscope  shows.  And 
the  sight  of  its  progress  through  the  tubes  must  have 
thrilled  those  who  watched  it  for  the  first  time. 

One  early  scientist  used  his  crude  microscope  on  the 
tail  of  a  tadpole.  He  had  already  discovered  the  corpus- 
cles of  the  blood,  which  we  shall  study  soon;  and  he 
saw  these  separate  "  blood  globules,"  as  he  called  them, 
moving  after  each  other  in  single  file  through  the  nar- 
rowest of  the  tubes.  Sometimes  they  moved  in  faster, 
sometimes  in  slower,  procession;  and  sometimes  they 
were  even  bent  over  and  pressed  out  of  shape  as  they 
were  forced  through  the  narrowest  places.  He  grew 
enthusiastic  over  what  he  saw,  and  wrote  a  glowing 
account  of  it  over  two  hundred  years  ago: 

The  motion  of  the  blood  in  these  tadpoles  exceeds  all  the  rest  of 
small  animals  and  fish  I  have  ever  seen  ;  nay  this  pleasure  has  ofttimes 
been  so  recreating  to  me  that  I  do  not  believe  that  all  the  pleasures  of 
fountains  and  waterworks,  either  natural  or  made  by  art,  could  have 
pleased  my  sight  so  well.  And  now  at  last  I  spied  a  small  artery,  that 
notwithstanding  it  is  so  small  that,  I  judge,  but  one  small  red  globule 
of  blood  could  pass  through  it,  ...  yet,  what  was  most  remarkable 
was  to  see  the  manifold  small  arteries  that  came  forth  from  the  great 
one,  and  which  were  spread  into  several  branches,  and  turning,  came 
into  one  again,  and  were  reunited,  that  at  last  they  did  pour  out  the 
blood  again  into  the  great  vein ;  this  last  was  a  sight  that  would  amaze 
any  eye  that  was  greedy  of  knowledge. 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


From  what  he  saw,  and  from  what  the  microscope 
may  show  us,  too,  we  find  it  easy  to  understand  that 
every  slash  and  wound  of  the  body  cuts  through  a  mesh 
of  lace  work  more  delicate  than  the  finest  lace  ever  made 
by  the  hand  of  man  ;  we  see  that  each  thread  of  this  lace 
is  a  tube  doing  faithful  duty  in  carrying  blood  to  remote 
regions  of  the  body,  and  that  everywhere  there  is  blood 
simply  because  everywhere  there  is  the  same  intricate 

interlacing  of  these  marvelous 
tubes.  Their  name  capillary 
means  "  hairlike."  Yet  the  mi- 
croscope shows  how  much 
smaller  they  sometimes  are 
than  any  human  hair,  however 
soft  and  fine. 

By  careful  calculation  it  has 
been  found  that  fifteen  hun- 
dred capillaries  would  have  to  be  laid  side  by  side  to 
cover  a  surface  an  inch  wide. 

As  a  rule,  the  amount  of  blood  which  is  inclosed  in 
this  system  of  tubes  which  includes  heart,  arteries,  capil- 
laries, and  veins,  is  about  one  thirteenth  the  weight  of 
the  person.  We  may  then  calculate  our  own  supply  of 
blood  by  our  own  weight. 

So  much  blood  does  it  take  to  keep  the  blood  vessels 
and  the  heart  as  full  as  they  need  to  be.  The  truth, 
however,  is  that  being  elastic  they  could  at  any  time 


CORPUSCLES  IN  THE  CAPILLARIES 
OF  A  FROG'S  FOOT 


THE  HEART  WITH  ITS  SYSTEM  OF  TUBES 

Arrows  show  the  direction  in  which  the  blood  flows.    Follow  its  course  from  the 

body  into  the  right  side  of  the  heart ;  from  there  to  the  lungs ;  thence  to  the  left 

side  of  the  heart  and  out  to  the  body  again.    Each  cluster  of  tubes  shows  in  a 

rough  way  where  some  organ  of  the  body  is  located 

93 


94  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

hold  more  than  is  now  in  them ;  and  that  at  any  time 
also  they  could  get  along  very  well  with  rather  less  than 
they  now  carry. 

In  former  times  men  sometimes  died  for  no  other  rea- 
son than  that  they  lost  so  much  blood  from  wounds  of 
one  sort  or  another  that  the  sides  of  veins  and  capil- 
laries collapsed,  and  the  heart  had  to  stop  work  because 
there  was  too  little  blood  left  in  the  body  to  be  pumped 
round.  It  was  therefore  a  great  discovery  when  men 
found  that  the  heart  is  quite  as  willing  to  pump  warm 
salt  water  out  into  arteries  and  capillaries  as  to  send 
warm  blood  to  the  same  places.  Nowadays,  therefore, 
when  a  man  is  losing  much  blood  through  an  operation 
or  through  an  accidental  wound,  a  surgeon,  working  as 
fast  as  he  can,  pumps  salt  water  into  the  veins  to  replace 
the  blood.  This  water  is  carried  on  round  the  circuit  as 
swiftly  as  if  it  were  the  richest  blood,  the  pumping  of  the 
heart  continues,  and  a  life  is  saved. 

No  one  dreams  for  a  moment  that  salt  water  can  take 
the  place  of  blood  day  in  and  day  out  for  many  days 
continuously,  but  all  know  that  it  may  be  depended  on 
for  a  season.  It  keeps  the  veins  filled  and  the  heart  in 
action  while  the  proper  sort  of  blood  is  being  manufac- 
tured by  the  body  itself. 

In  a  way  we  might  suppose  that,  whether  water  is 
mixed  with  it  or  not,  the  blood  of  the  body  is  spread  out 
in  equal  quantities  everywhere,  being  regulated  by  the 


TO  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND   BACK  95 

size  of  the  tubes  which  carry  it  here  and  there.  The 
truth  is,  however,  that  standing  over  the  blood  supply  is 
the  never-failing  fact  that  exercise  regulates  the  amount 
which  goes  here  and  there;  that  is,  what  we  do  always 
settles  the  question  as  to  where  the  blood  shall  go.  For 
the  normal,  healthy  person  this  law  never  varies.  It 
may  be  stated  in  a  few  words :  That  part  of  the  body 
which  is  exercised  the  most  gets  the  most  blood ;  that  part 
which  is  exercised  the  least  gets  the  least  blood. 

The  next  chapter  will  show  what  it  means  to  the  body 
when  this  law  is  remembered  or  forgotten,  and  what  the 
nature  of  the  blood  is,  that  it  should  be  so  greatly  needed 
here  and  there. 


CHAPTER  XII 

BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES 

When  you  take  your  morning  bath  why  do  you  use 
cold  water,  a  rough  wash  cloth,  and  a  towel  rougher  yet  ? 
Why  do  you  work  fast  and  rub  hard?  For  the  simple 
reason  that  you  wish  to  draw  more  blood  to  your  skin 
capillaries,  and  the  pink  color  shows  how  well  you  have 
succeeded. 

I  have  a  frail  friend  with  blood  vessels  so  lifeless  that 
her  skin  is  about  as  pale  after  exercise  as  before  it.  The 
other  day,  however,  she  felt  encouraged.  "An  unusual 
thing  happened  this  morning,  "  she  said ;  "  I  managed  to 
get  some  color  into  my  chest  when  I  rubbed  it.  I  have  n't 
been  able  to  do  that  before  for  years. "  She  knew  that 
active  movement  of  the  blood  through  the  blood  vessels 
is  one  of  the  important  advantages  of  exercise.  To  under- 
stand this  more  definitely,  examine  the  blood  itself.  Drops 
drawn  from  your  own  body  will  meet  the  need  perfectly. 
To  secure  them,  tie  a  string  round  the  last  joint  of  a  fin- 
ger on  your  left  hand.  This  leaves  your  right  hand  free 
for  whatever  it  needs  to  do.  Bend  the  tied  finger  over 
to  increase  the  pressure  of  the  blood  in  its  capillaries. 

Take  the  finest  needle  you  have,  hold  it  in  a  candle  or  a 

96 


BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES 


97 


lamp  flame  for  a  moment  to  rid  it  of  microbes,  then  stick 
the  point  of  it  quickly  into  the  dark  red  end  of  the  finger. 
So  much  blood  has  been  held  back  that  you  will  barely 
feel  the  prick.  Nevertheless,  a  good-sized  drop  will  ooze 
through  and  be  ready  for  immediate  use. 

To  get  this  blood  you  have  torn  open  the  sides  of  sev- 
eral capillaries  smaller  than  the  needle  ;  but  they  will 
repair  themselves  in  time, 
and  just  at  present  you 
have  more  need  of  that  red 
drop  outside  of  your  body 
than  inside  of  it.  Have  a 
piece  of  clean  glass  ready 
and  jostle  the  drop  of  blood 
down  upon  it.  Raise  the 
glass,  hold  it  over  some- 
thing white,  and  notice  the 
color.  You  will  see  that  it 
has  a  yellow  tinge. 

Now  break  through  a 
few  more  capillaries  with  your  needle ;  draw  another  drop 
of  blood ;  put  it  also  on  the  glass,  and  leave  it  there  for 
five  or  six  minutes.  Look  at  it  now  and  you  will  find  that 
it  has  turned  itself  into  jelly.  Set  a  tumbler  over  it  and 
let  it  remain  there  undisturbed  for  half  an  hour  or  so.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  you  will  see  a  bit  of  red  substance 
floating  in  a  small  drop  of  liquid  which  is  almost  colorless. 


PREPARED  TO  DRAW  A  DROP  OF  BLOOD 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


98 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Look  back  at  the  finger  you  pricked,  and,  if  you  did 
not  wipe  it  off  clean  after  you  pricked  it  last,  you  will  see 
that  there,  too,  a  remnant  of  the  blood  has  hardened  round 
the  edges  of  the  tiny  wound.  This  will  remind  you  of  the 
statement  so  often  made,  that  the  best  healer  for  a  wound 

is  the  blood  which  oozes 
through  it.  We  clean  a 
wound  thoroughly,  we  pull 
*ne  edges  towards  each 
other,  we  even  sew  them 
together  sometimes,  and 
the  blood  which  continues 
to  ooze  from  the  capillaries 
hardens  on  the  edges  of 
the  wound.  We  are  care- 


ful to  leave  it  there  undis- 
turbed, for  we  know  that 

A  few  red  ones  are  highly  magnified.  Those    it   cloSCS   the   break    better 
that  are  less  magnified  show  how  corpuscles      ,  1  *     J       -f       1 

stick  together  after  blood  is  drawn  from  the    than    any   Kind    OI   plaster, 
body.  Two  white  corpuscles  are  given        an(j  t^at  t|ie  WO7]C  of  knit- 
ting these  separated  edges  together  goes  on  best  under 
the  crust  of  hardening  blood. 

If  we  could  add  the  use  of  a  good  microscope  to  our 
experiments,  and  if  we  knew  just  how  to  use  it  for 
such  close  investigations,  we  should  draw  a  third  drop  of 
blood,  put  it  under  the  microscope,  and  learn  a  number 
of  startling  facts  about  its  composition.  We  should  then 


CORPUSCLES  SEEN  BY  THE  AID  OF  A 
MICROSCOPE 


BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES  99 

recognize  it  as  a  liquid  with  multitudes  of  small  red  and 
white  objects  floating  in  it.  Blood  is  indeed  a  mixture 
of  three  things: 

i.  Red  objects  called  red  corpuscles.    There  are 

something  like  two  hundred  million  of  these  in  each 

drop  of   healthy   blood.    Imagine   then   their  size  ! 

Each  is  round  and  flat 

and  has  a  concave  cen- 
ter.   Its  shape  is  such 

as  you  would  get  by 

taking   a   wax  marble    l 

and  mashing  it  between 

the  thumb  and  finger. 

Pressed   in    this    way, 

the   center  is   thinner 

than  the  edges.    So  is    3"  4 

it   with   every   red    COr-  RED  AND  WHITE  CORPUSCLES 

Nevertheless,    Four  different  shapes  and  four  positions 


....  taken  by  the  same  white  corpuscle 

these  microscopic  disks 

are  the  important  oxygen  carriers  of  the  body,  and 
they  never  leave  the  blood  tubes  unless  these  tubes 
themselves  are  crushed  or  cut  or  forced  to  leak 
through  accident  or  disease. 

2.  The  liquid  part  called  plasma.  This  is  quite 
transparent  and  almost  colorless.  A  little  over  one 
half  of  each  quart  of  blood  is  plasma;  the  rest  is 
the  corpuscles. 


100  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

3.  Colorless  objects  called  white  corpuscles.     Of 
these  there  are  only  about  six  hundred  thousand 
to  each  drop  of  blood,  although  the  number  varies 
greatly  from  time  to  time.   They  are  specks  of  jelly- 
like  substance  that  change  their  shape  constantly. 
They  not  only  travel  with  the  other  corpuscles  in 
the  plasma,  but  they  also  work  their  way  through  the 
walls  of  the  capillaries  and  wander  here  and  there 
in  the  body.    They  destroy  intruding  microbes  when 
they  find  them,  and  help  more  than  any  other  part 
of  the  blood  in  healing  a  wound.    Much  more  is 
told  about  these  white  corpuscles  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  Control  of  Body  and  Mind. 
Plasma,  red  corpuscles,  and  white  corpuscles  tell  us  all 
that  the  microscope  shows  when  we  use  it  for  the  study 
of  blood.    But  a  chemist  will  take  the  same  blood,  will 
analyze  it  in  his  laboratory,  and  will  prove  that  it  is  made 
up  of  many  different  substances  of  which  we  have  not  so 
much  as  heard  the  names,  —  substances  needed,  however, 
for  the  work  which  each  separate  part  of  the  body  is 
doing.    He  will  tell  us  that  within  this  blood  is  all  that 
is  needed  for  the  manufacture  of  bone  and  muscle,  hair 
and  tendon,  tears  and  fat  and  finger  nails ;  that  it  is  the 
source  of  supply  for  all  that  lies  under  the  cover  of  the 
skin,  the  storehouse  for  more  treasures  than  we  have 
even  dreamed  about ;  and  that  it  is  easy  to  enrich  or  to 
impoverish  the  blood  by  our  treatment  of  the  body. 


BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES         ioi 

This  then  is  the  blood  itself, — the  surprising  red  liquid 
which  some  of  us  are  so  afraid  to  touch,  the  marvelous 
red  liquid  which  determines  our  health  for  us.  While 
it  moves  through  our  branching  blood  vessels  we  live ; 
when  it  stops  moving  we  die;  and  in  proportion  as  it 
is  well  supplied  or  unsupplied  with  that  which  each  part 
of  the  body  calls  for,  are  we  well  or  ill.  It  is  this  last 
fact  indeed  which  should  make  the  study  of  these  pages 
of  priceless  value  to  us,  for  through  the  knowledge 
which  we  gain  of  physiology  and  hygiene  we  shall 
finally  learn  how  to  keep  the  body  supplied  with  the 
kind  of  blood  which  it  must  have  in  order  to  do  its 
best  work  for  us. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES 

Even  a  careless  thinker  will  see  that  however  intricate 
the  lace  work  of  capillaries  is,  and  however  closely  these 

small  tubes  are  intertwined  with 
tissues  of  muscle  and  gland,  still 
the  blood  within  the  tubes  is  use- 
less to  the  body  unless  it  can  be 
brought  into  direct  contact  with 
the  muscle  and  gland  tissues 
themselves. 

An  experiment  will  make  the 
situation  plain  and  will  show  what 

The  smaller  glass  holds  fresh 

water,  the   larger  holds  water    the  OUtCOme  of  it  is. 

Get  from  the  butcher  a  piece  of 

fresh  animal  membrane,  —  the  bladder  will  do.  Fill  a 
small  glass  with  fresh  water,  tie  the  membrane  tightly 
over  it,  set  the  glass  into  a  much  larger  one  filled  with 
salted  water,  letting  the  water  cover  it,  and  leave  the 
two  tumblers  together  over  night.  In  the  morning  take 
the  smaller  from  the  larger,  unfasten  the  membrane,  and 
taste  the  water  which  was  fresh  and  sweet  the  night  be- 
fore. You  will  find  that  it  is  now  distinctly  salt.  Taste 


ONE  GLASS  WITHIN  THE 
OTHER 


102 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES  103 

the  water  in  the  larger  tumbler.  You  will  find  that  it 
has  grown  fresher  than  when  you  left  it. 

In  this  exchange  the  salt  in  the  liquid  has  acted 
according  to  a  universal  law.  Salt  is  indeed  one  of  the 
many  substances  which  always  pass  easily  back  and 
forth  through  any  moist  animal  membrane. 

Put  sugar  into  one  liquid  and  soda  into  another;  let 
a  membrane  be  stretched  between  them,  and  before  long 
you  will  have  two  liquids  that  have  become  strangely 
alike.  The  different  substances  in  the  liquids  have 
changed  places  through  the  membrane. 

Even  gases  are  subject  to  the  same  law.  Men  who 
know  how  to  handle  such  things  can  put  oxygen  in  one 
tube  and  carbon  dioxid  in  another.  They  can  then  ar- 
range to  separate  the  gases  by  a  piece  of  animal  mem- 
brane stretched  between  the  tubes,  and  they  discover  that 
the  two  gases  refuse  to  stay  apart.  Indeed,  so  much  of 
each  finds  its  way  through  the  partition  that  soon  there 
is  a  mixture  of  the  two  on  either  side  of  the  membrane. 

Experiments  such  as  these  answer  the  query  as  to 
how  the  body  gets  what  it  needs  from  the  blood. 
Everywhere  it  is  the  animal  membrane  of  the  tubes 
themselves  which  separates  the  blood  within  the  tubes 
from  a  certain  other  liquid  which  lies  close  about  them 
on  the  outside. 

However  small  and  however  thin  walled  the  blood 
vessels  may  be,  there  is  always  this  lymph  bathing  the 


104  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

outside  like  a  sort  of  colorless  sap  in  the  body,  and  mak- 
ing its  exchanges  with  the  contents  of  the  liquid  within 
the  capillaries.  Moreover,  this  lymph  which  soaks  slowly 
but  constantly  through  every  tissue  of  the  body  is  laden 
with  carbon  dioxid  which  it  has  received  from  the  tis- 
sues of  the  body.  The  blood  is  rich  in  oxygen,  and  it  is 
separated  from  the  lymph  only  by  the  walls  of  the  cap- 
illaries. In  view  of  this,  what  could  be  more  natural 
than  the  thing  which  comes  to  pass?  These  gases  in 
the  lymph  and  in  the  blood  change  places  with  each 
other  as  promptly  as  do  the  liquid  materials  which  are 
also  in  the  lymph  and  in  the  blood. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  lymph  is  as  important  to  us 
as  is  the  blood  itself.  In  fact,  the  two  must  always  travel 
side  by  side.  They  are  indispensable  to  each  other. 
Without  the  one  the  other  is  useless.  Three  statements 
will  show  how  close  the  relation  is : 

1.  Blood  in  the  arteries  is  the  result  of  the  food 
we  eat  and  of  the  air  we  breathe.    It  contains  every 
supply  that  any  part  of  the  body  needs  for  nourish- 
ment, for  strength,  and  for  growth. 

2.  Blood  in  the  veins  is  what  is  left  after  the  lymph 
has  taken  from  it  the  oxygen  and  other  nourishment 
which  the  body  needs,  and  given  in  exchange  the 
carbon  dioxid  and  other  waste  which  must  be  carried 
off.  In  other  words,  venous  blood  is  rich  in  waste  from 
the  tissues  and  poor  in  nourishment  for  the  tissues. 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES  105 

3.  Lymph  is  made  up  of  rich,  nourishing  plasma 
from  the  blood,  on  its  way  to  the  tissues,  and  of 
waste  material  from  the  body,  which  will  soon  pass 
into  the  capillaries,  be  carried  onward  in  the  veins, 
and  be  disposed  of  as  we  shall  learn  hereafter. 
Lymph  is  also  the  highroad  to  the  blood  for  many 
substances  that  are  being  manufactured  by  the  dif- 
ferent organs  of  the  body.  These  manufactured 
articles  must  find  their  way  into  the  blood,  for  only 
through  circulation  will  they  ever  be  able  to  reach 
their  destination. 

The  origin  of  the  lymphatic  tubes  is  strangely  inter- 
esting for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  so  very  indefinite. 
Each  seems  to  begin  about  as  irregularly  as  a  stream 
gathers  water  in  a  swamp. 

As  we  know,  blood  vessels  are  a  closed  system  of  tubes 
with  a  stream  of  blood  sweeping  through  them  endlessly, 
— going  ever  round  and  round,  from  heart  back  to  heart 
again.  In  this  great  system  not  even  the  smallest  tube 
in  the  remotest  region  of  the  body  is  left  with  an  open 
mouth.  The  lymphatic  system,  however,  works  on  quite  a 
different  basis.  Here  the  vast  multitudes  of  the  smallest 
tubes  seem  to  be  really  little  more  than  open  mouths  into 
which  liquid  is  gradually  making  its  way.  Bear  this  in 
mind  while  the  facts  are  given  as  definite  statements : 

i .  Each  blood  vessel  of  the  body  makes  its  way 
through  a  mesh  work  of  tissues. 


106  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

2.  Everywhere  among  these  intertwined  tissues 
there  is  a  colorless  liquid  called  lymph.  The  capil- 
laries of  the  blood  are  surrounded  by  this  lymph 
even  as  grass  and  weeds  are  surrounded  by  water 
in  a  swamp.  Lymph  looks  like  plasma  of  the  blood. 


L 

A  CLUSTER  OF  TUBES 

Look  for  those  with  open  mouths  :  A,  artery ;    V,  vein  ; 
Z,  Z,  Z,  lymphatics 

3.  Lymph    and   plasma    are    constantly   making 
exchanges  through  the  walls  of  the  tubes  of  the 
blood  vessels.  * 

4.  Plasma  receives  from  the  lymph  all  that  the 
body  is  through  with  — all  that  should  go  on  in 
the  blood  and  be  disposed  of  elsewhere. 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES 


107 


5.  Lymph  receives  from  the  plasma  all  the  nour- 
ishment which  the  tissues  need. 

6.  Opening  away  from  the  loose  fibers  through 
which  the  blood  vessels  run,  and  in  which  all  this 
exchange    is    going    on, 

there  are  other  tubes 
about  as  small  as  the 
capillaries;  and  into  the 
open  mouths  of  these 
tubes  the  lymph  from  the 
tissues  gradually  makes 
its  way. 

7.  Vigorous    exercise 
hastens  the  flow  of  lymph 
no  less  than  of  blood,  and 
the  tissues  are  benefited 
thereby. 

8.  From  start  to  finish 
the  lymphatic  tubes  pro- 
gress    from     Smaller    to  LYMPHATICS  OF  THE  HAND 

larger,  as  do  those  of  the 
veins.  They  are  also  pro- 
vided with  inside  pockets  quite  like  those  of  the 
veins.  These  pocket  valves  keep  the  lymph  from 
moving  backwards  and  help  to  send  it  constantly 
onward,  that  it  may  at  last  mingle  with  the  great 
stream  of  blood  that  goes  to  the  heart. 


Smaller  tubes  lie  near  the  surface, 
larger  ones  lie  deeper 


io8 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


9.  This  progress  from  smaller  to  larger  tubes  con- 
tinues until  all  the  lymph  of  the  body  finds  its  way 

through  two  large  lymph 
tubes,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  neck.  These  empty 
into  two  large  veins,  and 
thenceforward  lymph  and 
blood  go  on  their  way  to- 
gether to  the  heart.  The 
lymph,  with  all  it  has  gath- 
ered, has  now  entered  the 
circulatory  system,  and  thus 
the  contribution  from  the 
many  different  organs  of 
the  body  will  be  distributed 
by  means  of  the  blood. 
The  movement  of  this 
fluid  continues  during  life, 
for  the  lymph  vessels  and 
lymph  spaces  can  never 
be  empty  so  long  as  the 

The  lymph  tubes  are  white  and  are    Organs    of    the    body    are    at 
seen  to  empty  into  the  large  veins    WQj-lr 

A  special  point  to  remember  is  that  blood  vessels  and 
the  tissues  are  as  much  better  off  when  fresh  lymph  sur- 
rounds them,  as  are  fish  when  they  are  in  fresh  water. 


VEINS  AND  LYMPH  TUBES 


CHAPTER  XIV 
ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION 

A  man  is  sometimes  so  sensitive  about  the  dull  red 
end  of  his  nose  that  he  is  ready  to  welcome  almost  any 
device  which  may  rid  him  of  it.  Perhaps  he  knows  and 


PRICKING  THE  CAPILLARIES 

By  electricity  through  the  point  of  a  needle  many  capillaries  are 
destroyed ;  after  that  the  man  is  cured  of  his  red  nose 

(Copied  from  the  Literary  Digest} 

perhaps  he  does  not  know  that  the  reason  for  the  color 
is  the  condition  of  his  capillaries.    Each  smallest  tube  in 

the  special  spot  is  indeed  overcharged  with  blood ;   and 

109 


1 10  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

in  so  far  as  a  nose  is  bright  red  or  dull  red  are  we  our- 
selves able  to  judge  as  to  whether  or  not  the  capillaries 
are  particularly  distended  just  there. 

Red  eyelids  and  a  pink  nose  tell  plain  facts  about  the 
state  of  the  capillaries  in  those  particular  regions.  But  in 
the  matter  of  general  health,  the  mere  fact  that  a  man  has 
a  red  nose  signifies  very  little.  Many  a  hearty  sea  captain 
has  carried  such  a  nose  with  him  through  half  a  century 
of  life.  He  has  lived  to  be  eighty  years  old  or  older,  and 
the  shade  of  his  sunburned  nose  has  made  him  neither 
more  nor  less  healthy  than  he  otherwise  would  have  been. 

Sometimes,  however,  the  color  of  a  man's  nose  is  a 
sign  of  general  internal  conditions.  It  may  show  that 
the  capillaries  throughout  his  body  are  loaded  with 
slow-moving  blood ;  and  this  condition  of  the  capilla- 
ries throws  a  flood  of  light  on  the  sort  of  work  which 
the  heart  itself  is  doing. 

Judging  by  facts  which  we  have  already  learned,  three 
points  are  clear: 

1.  Slow-moving  blood  is  more  impure  than  that 
which  moves  faster;  for  this  reason  such  blood  is 
always  a  disadvantage  to  any  part  of  the  body  in 
which  it  tarries. 

2.  The  mere  fact  that  blood  is  moving  fast  shows 
that  impurities  are  being  hastened  out  of  the  way 
and  that  fresh  material  is  being  supplied  to  lymph 
and  tissue. 


ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION  1 1 1 

3.  The  blood  vessels  must  always  be  in  a  healthy, 
vigorous,  elastic  condition  if  the  best  exchanges  are 
to  be  made  through  their  walls. 

In  view  of  these  statements  we  are  ready  to  under- 
stand a  set  of  scientific  discoveries  about  circulation 
which  have  been  made  during  the  past  few  years.  It 
appears  that  for  many  previous  years  educated  doctors 
and  ignorant  men  alike  were  united  in  the  conviction 
that  alcohol  was  a  genuine  help  to  the  vigor  of  the  cir- 
culation. Thousands  of  men  thought  they  had  proved 
this  by  personal  experience.  At  different  times,  and  in 
different  places,  they  had  taken  alcohol  in  large  doses 
or  in  small  doses  as  they  chose,  and  after  the  drinking 
they  had  tested  their  hearts  and  knew  by  the  count  of 
the  pulse  that  the  number  of  heart  beats  had  increased. 
They  felt  the  blood  bounding  faster  through  their  veins, 
and  it  was  most  natural  for  them  to  believe  that  the 
alcohol  which  they  had  taken  had  strengthened  the 
heart,  even  as  food  strengthens  the  body. 

In  time,  however,  an  instrument  was  invented  which 
measured  the  strength  of  each  heart  beat.  This  -instru- 
ment is  in  wide  use  to-day,  because  doctors  find  that 
they  can  judge  in  a  general  way  as  to  whether  a  man  is 
well  or  not  by  the  vigor  or  the  languor  with  which  his 
heart  does  its  work. 

And  now  for  the  surprise  which  overtook  doctors 
and  scientists  alike.  They  took  alcohol  themselves ; 


1 1 2  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

they  gave  it  to  their  friends  and  their  patients;  they 
studied  the  heart  and  found  that  its  throbs  had  in- 
creased in  number.  But  when  they  also  used  the  in- 
strument —  the  sphygmograph  —  they  were  surprised  to 
see  that  the  heart  was  not  putting  as  much  power  into 
each  stroke  now  as  it  did  before  the  alcohol  was  taken. 


THE  SPHYGMOGRAPH  IN  PLACE 

By  the  use  of  this  instrument  men  determine  the  strength  of 
the  heart  beat 

Over  and  over  again  the  tests  were  made,  and  always 
with  the  same  result.  Each  trial  showed  that  although 
the  heart  was  now  pumping  faster  than  usual,  it  was 
nevertheless  doing  its  work  with  less  vigor.  It  was 
using  less  force  for  the  increased  number  of  strokes 
than  it  used  for  the  smaller  number  made  before  alco- 
hol had  been  added  to  the  blood. 

Testimony  of  this  sort  put  a  new  color  on  the  practice 
of  using  alcohol  when  the  heart  needs  to  be  strengthened. 


ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION  113 

Doctors  in  every  land  had  to  yield  to  the  evidence  of 
their  senses.  They  had  to  believe  that,  instead  of  giving 
strength,  alcohol  actually  robs  the  heart  of  a  part  of  the 
strength  which  it  had  before  the  alcohol  was  taken. 

This  was  a  difficult  doctrine  to  accept,  and  question 
and  investigation  continued  to  pursue  each  other  in 
quick  succession  until  at  last  there  was  no  further 
doubt  about  it.  To-day  the  facts  of  the  case  are  ac- 
cepted by  all  persons  except  those  who  are  not  up  to 
date  in  the  matter.  I  give  a  few  of  the  most  important 
points : 

1.  Healthy   tubes   that    carry   blood    are  elastic. 
They  stretch  out  when  blood  is  pumped  into  them 
by  the  heart,  and  they  contract  firmly  again  as  they 
send  the  blood  onward. 

2.  The  first  effect  of  alcohol  in  the  body  is  to 
paralyze  in  a  very  slight  way  every  tube  that  has 
anything   to    do    with    carrying   blood    hither   and 
thither. 

3.  Because  the  tubes  are  slightly  paralyzed  they 
are  more  relaxed  than  formerly.   They  contract  less. 
They  therefore  offer  less  resistance  to  the  blood  that 
is  pumped  into  them.   After  they  are  full  they  stay 
relaxed,  and  do  not  have  the  elastic  power  to  pull 
themselves  firmly  into  shape  again. 

4.  The   heart   is  also  slightly  paralyzed  by  the 
alcohol.    Still  those  countless  relaxed  tubes  offer  so 


1 14  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

little  resistance  that  the  heart  pumps  the  blood  into 
them  with  less  effort  than  formerly,  and,  as  a  result, 
contracts  more  frequently. 

Thus  far,  however,  no  harm  appears.  The  capillaries 
are  full  of  blood;  the  man  feels  the  warmer  for  it,  and 
his  heart  is  beating  a  trifle  faster  than  usual.  That  is  all. 
But  now  begins  the  chapter  of  damages  and  calamities. 

During  the  time  that  the  heart  itself  is  weakened,  it  can- 
not put  force  enough  into  each  stroke  to  drive  the  blood 
on  in  spite  of  the  relaxed  state  of  the  walls  of  the  tubes. 
Various  results  are  now  inevitable.  Blood  moves  more 
slowly  through  the  tubes;  it  is  slow  in  carrying  away 
broken-down  tissue  from  the  lymph ;  it  is  slow  in  bring- 
ing fresh  nourishment  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  tissues. 

In  the  meantime,  if  alcohol  continues  to  be  taken,  the 
capillaries  may  be  kept  stretched  so  long  as  to  lose  all 
power  to  contract.  If  this  is  persisted  in,  the  walls  them- 
selves end  by  becoming  thicker  and  stiffer.  The  work  of 
exchange  which  should  go  on  at  a  rapid  pace  through 
them  is  thus  interfered  with,  and  the  health  of  the 
drinker  suffers  in  numerous  ways. 

This  is  no  fancy  picture.  It  is  simply  the  history  of 
circulation  in  such  persons  as  are  ignorant  enough  to 
be  willing  to  rob  themselves  of  the  work  which  their 
blood  and  their  blood  vessels  should  do  for  them. 

The  most  alarming  side  of  the  affair,  however,  is  in 
connection  with  what  happens  to  the  heart.  Because 


ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION  115 

this  tireless  pump  is  weaker  than  it  was,  it  also  becomes 
stretched ;  and  as  it  cannot  do  full  work,  it  lacks  the 
exercise  which  would  keep  it  in  vigorous  health.  It 
grows  flabby,  as  does  an  unused  arm.  Fat  gathers  be- 
tween its  fibers,  even  as  fat  gathers  in  other  muscles 
when  they  do  less  work  than  usual.  But  fat  intermixed 


Two  HEARTS  SIDE  BY  SIDE 

On  the  left  the  heart  is  normal,  on  the  right  it  is  enlarged  and  weakened  by  fat 
(Copied  from  Alcohol  and  the  Human  Body,  by  Horsley  and  Sturge) 

with  the  fibers  of  the  heart  is  an  entirely  different  affair 
from  fat  distributed  in  an  outside  muscle. 

Fat  among  the  fibers  of  the  heart  means  that  the  act 
of  pumping  is  threatened.  More  than  this,  the  valves  of 
the  heart  themselves  are  often  so  changed  by  alcohol  as 
to  be  hindered  in  their  endless  occupation  of  opening 
and  shutting.  This  means  that  he  who  owns  the  fatty 


1 1 6  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

heart  and  the  weakened  valves  is  far  less  sure  of  con- 
tinued life  than  he  might  have  been.  Since  he  secured 
this  condition  through  ignorance,  he  is  not  to  blame. 
But  sad  as  is  the  fact,  ignorance  never  saves  men  from 
the  results  of  their  ignorance. 

Why  do  surgeons  dread  to  do  anything  for  the  man 
who  uses  alcohol  ?  Because  they  know  only  too  well 
that  the  power  of  his  heart  and  the  elasticity  of  his 
arteries  have  been  reduced.  They  are  afraid  that  his 
heart  -may  not  rally  after  they  have  done  what  cutting 
is  necessary.  In  writing  of  this  danger,  Sir  Frederick 
Treves  says: 

Having  spent  the  greater  part  of  my  life  in  operating,  I  can  assure 
you  that  there  are  some  patients  that  I  don't  mind  operating  upon  and 
some  that  I  do ;  but  the  person  of  all  others  that  I  dread  to  see  enter 
the  operating  theater  is  the  drinker.  He  is  the  most  dangerous  feature 
in  connection  with  the  surgical  life. 

It  is  because  of  this  constant  state  of  relaxed  capil- 
laries that  the  nose  of  the  drinker  stays  red.  In  his 
case  the  nose  is  frequently  a  reliable  sign  of  internal 
conditions. 


CHAPTER  XV 


AS  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS 

If  you  were  ever  thoroughly  out  of  breath,  recall  the 
sensations  you  had  at  the  time.  Perhaps  you  were  try- 
ing to  catch  a  train;  perhaps 
you  were  running  in  a  relay 
race.  In  either  case  you  felt 
that  you  must  reach  the  goal 
at  all  hazards,  and  you  ran  as 
you  had  never  run  before. 

But  think  of  the  discomfort 
of  it!  Since  your  legs  were 
young  and  strong  you  thought 
nothing  about  your  muscles, 
but  simply  used  them  hard. 
You  ran  fast.  Your  breath  came 
and  went  freely,  and  during  the 
first  few  moments  you  drew 
deep,  long  breaths  of  equal  length.  Soon,  however,  you 
found  that  each  breath  was  shorter  than  the  last;  also 
that  they  came  and  went  in  quicker  succession.  You 
began  to  be  uncomfortable.  There  was  a  tight  feeling 

within  you,  as  if  an  iron  band  were  closing  itself  about 

117 


RUNNING  AS  FAST  AS  POSSIBLE 


Il8  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

your  chest ;  as  if  it  prevented  you  from  expanding  your 
lungs  to  their  full  size.  You  wondered  how  much  longer 
you  could  keep  it  up. 

Soon  discomfort  changed  to  real  distress.  Your  breath 
came  and  went  in  jerks.  Your  legs  still  worked  hard 
and  you  were  running  as  fast  as  ever,  but  there  was  a 
pounding  in  your  temples,  a  buzzing  in  your  ears,  your 
eyesight  seemed  to  fail ;  you  barely  noticed  what  you 
passed  in  your  flight,  everything  grew  blurred.  You  did 
not  see  the  people  wrho  stared  at  you.  You  did  not 
know  that  you  were  pale  and  that  we  who  watched  you 
longed  to  scream  out  that  you  must  stop  running  at 
once.  You  kept  on,  and  when  you  reached  the  goal  your 
friends  praised  you  for  your  pluck.  But  you  had  no 
power  to  thank  them.  You  were  still  breathing  in  short 
gasps.  This  kept  on  for  several  minutes.  When  at  last 
you  could  breathe  comfortably  again,  perhaps  some  one 
asked  you  if  your  legs  did  n't  get  tired  when  you  ran  so 
fast.  And  probably  you  said :  "  My  legs  were  in  good 
shape.  I  could  have  run  longer  yet,  so  far  as  they 
were  concerned.  The  trouble  was,  I  could  n't  get  breath 
enough.  I  was  nearly  suffocated."  In  other  words,  you 
had  gone  through  a  genuine  siege  of  breathlessness, 
and  nothing  is  much  more  uncomfortable. 

But  why  were  you  breathless  ?  To  answer  the  ques- 
tion, follow  once  more  the  condition  of  muscle  and  bone, 
tendon  and  heart,  lungs  and  blood  vessels,  while  you 


AS  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS 


119 


were  running.  Think  for  a  moment  of  your  unelastic 
tendons  as  they  stayed  firmly  gripped  to  their  bone 
attachments.  Remember  how  each  one  of  multitudes 
of  muscles,  large  and  small,  shortened  and  lengthened 
as,  by  means  of  their  tendons,  they  pulled  those  leg 
bones  of  yours  up  and  down  and  kept  them  at  work. 
Remember  that  neither  arms  nor  head  nor  any  other 


67  89 

NINE  VIEWS  OF  THE  SAME  MAN  AS  HE  RAN 

A  different  set  of  muscles  is  at  work  in  each  position,  so  that  altogether  many 
muscles  are  used  in  running 

(After  Schmidt) 

part  of  your  body  was  quiet  as  you  ran,  but  that  every 
muscle  seemed  to  work  hard  in  keeping  time  and  step 
with  the  movement  of  the  legs.  Remember  that  such 
violent  action  as  this  means  that  changes  are  going  on 
in  the  substance  of  the  living  tissue  which  is  exercised ; 
that  these  changes  involve  the  giving  off  of  unusual 
quantities  of  carbon  dioxid;  that  oxygen  is  needed  by 


1 20  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

the  working  fibers,  and  that  in  order  to  supply  the 
oxygen  and  to  carry  off  the  carbon  dioxid,  fresh  streams 
of  blood  must  be  hastened  to  the  active  muscles  with 
ever-increasing  speed.  The  most  immediate,  imperative 
need  of  each  working  fiber  is  to  get  rid  of  the  excess  of 
carbon  dioxid. 

There  are  then  three  steps  to  such  a  condition  of 
breathlessness : 

1.  Exercise  violent  enough  to  compel  the  fibers 
of  the  muscles  to   produce   unusual   quantities  of 
carbon  dioxid.    As  this  gas  is  produced  oxygen  is 
demanded  by  the  fibers.    It  is  indeed  as  if  they 
themselves  were  breathing. 

2.  The  activity  of  the  chest  walls  as  they  expel 
the  carbon  dioxid  from  the  air  sacs  of  the  lungs 
and  replace  it  with  air  containing  oxygen. 

3.  The  rapid  work  of  the  heart  as  it  receives 
larger  amounts  of  impure  blood  than  usual  through 
the  veins  and  sends  arterial  blood  to  the  tissues  to 
carry  oxygen  and  to  bring  away  carbon  dioxid.    To 
a  large  extent  it  is  this  forced  work  of  the  heart  that 
explains  the  feeling  of  breathlessness. 

We  were  speaking  of  this  matter  the  other  day,  and 
my  friend,  who  teaches  physiology,  said : 

People  used  to  say  that  a  man  was  breathless  because  there  was 
more  carbon  dioxid  in  his  blood  than  he  could  expel  through  his  lungs. 
But  we  know  better  now.  We  know  that  it  is  n't  so  much  the  carbon 


AS  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS  121 

dioxid  —  although  of  course  that  has  to  be  driven  off  —  as  it  is  the 
overtaxed  heart  that  makes  us  breathless. 

Boys  come  to  me  for  examination  ;  and  when  they  complain  about 
their  lungs,  and  say  that  they  get  out  of  breath  easily,  I  know  that  in 
all  probability  most  of  the  difficulty  lies  elsewhere.  The  truth  is,  the 
heart  gets  tired  from  overwork,  just  as  the  biceps  does,  and  it  is  quite 
as  possible  to  strengthen  the  heart  by  training  as  to  strengthen  the 
biceps.  At  first  I  put  the  boys  on  easy  exercises  that  tax  the  heart  but 
little ;  then  day  by  day  I  give  what  is  harder,  until,  almost  before  they 
know  it,  those  boys  have  developed  hearts  that  are  strong  enough  to 
do  good  hard  work  without  making  them  breathless. 

The  recognized  fact  is  that  we  grow  breathless  in 
proportion  to  the  force  which  we  put  into  any  exercise 
in  a  given  length  of  time ;  that  is,  the  faster  we  do  the 
same  thing,  the  more  quickly  will  breathlessness  over- 
take us.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  understand  an  opposite 
condition,  and  to  believe  that  the  quieter  we  are,  the  less 
oxygen  will  the  tissues  use  and  the  less  carbon  dioxid 
will  the  body  have  to  get  rid  of. 

The  following  figures  show  the  amounts  of  carbon 
dioxid  which  a  man  gives  off  while  sleeping,  sitting,  or 
running  for  a  given  length  of  time : 

While  asleep 035  gram 

While  sitting 060     " 

While  running '  .     .     .165     " 

Men  have  killed  animals  after  a  long  hunt,  and  have 
found  the  blood  of  the  arteries  so  changed  in  color  that 
it  looked  like  blood  from  the  veins.  It  was  dark  and 


122  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

impure  because  it  held  an  oversupply  of  carbon  dioxid 
and  had  lost  most  of  the  oxygen  which  would  have 
given  the  animal  life.  From  the  veins  the  carbon  dioxid 
had  gone  through  the  heart  and  through  the  lungs  out 
into  the  arteries. 

When  we  are  breathless  most  of  the  trouble  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  heart  is  overtaxed  by  the  large  quantity 
of  blood  sent  to  it  from  the  hard-working  muscles  to  be 
forwarded  to  the  lungs  to  be  purified  of  its  carbon  dioxid, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  lungs  are  also  overtaxed  by 
their  unusual  work. 

Those  who  train  for  athletic  sports  learn  to  keep  the 
balance  of  the  gases  in  their  blood.  They  know  how  to 
manage  their  running  and  the  work  of  heart  and  lungs 
in  such  a  way  that  neither  will  be  overtaxed  until  the 
end  is  near.  They  are  willing  to  be  breathless  at  the 
very  last  because  they  are  soon  to  stop  running  and 
catch  their  breath  again.  But  to  get  breathless  at  the 
beginning  of  the  race  means  defeat. 

The  same  is  true  in  horse  racing.  No  good  jockey 
lets  his  horse  get  out  of  breath  until  the  last  part  of  the 
race.  At  that  time,  however,  the  horse  is  urged  to  work 
the  muscles  of  his  legs  as  hard  and  fast  as  possible.  It 
is  safe  to  do  this  now,  for  as  soon  as  he  reaches  the  goal 
his  muscles  will  stop  producing  such  quantities  of  carbon 
dioxid  and  his  heart  will  cease  to  be  overtaxed  by  its  work 
of  pumping  this  impure  blood  to  the  lungs  to  be  purified. 


AS  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS  123 

No  two  horses  and  no  two  men  or  boys  are  alike  in 
this.  Each  has  his  own  rate  of  producing  carbon  dioxid 
and  of  expelling  it.  Each  must  therefore  discover  for 
himself  what  the  power  of  his  heart  is,  and  learn  to 
increase  it.  Through  practice  a  man  is  finally  able  to 
adopt  a  pace  in  which  his  heart  and  his  lungs  work  in 
unison,  —  a  pace  which  he  can  therefore  keep  up  with- 
out overtaxing  his  heart  and  without  overturning  the 
balance  of  the  gases  in  his  body.  He  makes  the  dis- 
covery that  exercise  of  the  large  muscles  of  the  body 
and  of  the  legs  calls  for  much  more  oxygen  in  much 
less  time  than  does  exercise  of  the  smaller  muscles,  and 
that  both  heart  and  lungs  need  to  be  trained  in  relation 
to  each  other  before  he  can  expect  to  do  hard  or  rapid 
work  without  getting  out  of  breath. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR 

Place  one  hand  lightly 
on  your  chest;  place  the 
other  on  your  back  between 
the  shoulder  blades ;  inhale 
slowly  until  your  lungs  are 
full,  then  exhale  slowly  un- 
til they  seem  empty.  While 
you  do  this  notice  that  the 
breastbone  rises,  and  that 
the  front  and  rear  walls  of 
your  chest  are  forced  grad- 
ually farther  apart. 

While  you  take  another 
long  breath  and  send  it 
out  again  stand  with  your 
hands  resting  lightly  on 
each  side  of  the  body  just 
over  your  lower  ribs.  No- 
tice that  it  is  expansion 
sideways  this  time;  you  also  see  that  the  capacity  of 

your  chest  has  increased  greatly. 

124 


As  SHE  BREATHES  SHE  FEELS  THE 
MOVEMENT 


MEASURED  BY  THE  DOCTOR 


WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR 

Take  a  tape  measure  and  get  the  girth  of  your  chest 
after  you  have  exhaled  all  you  can,  and  again  after  you 
have  drawn  in  as  large  a  supply  of  air  as  your  lungs  will 
hold.  Learn  from  these 
tests  that  the  size  of  your 
chest  can  be  increased  and 
diminished  at  will,  and 
that  its  size  can  be  in- 
creased permanently  by 
frequent  exercise  of  this 
kind.  To  prove  this  in 
your  own  case,  measure  your  chest  to-day ;  then  for  two 
months  take  fifteen  deep,  full  breaths  three  times  a  day. 
With  each  breath  expand  your  lungs  as  fully  as  you 
can  without  really  straining  them.  At  the  end  of  the 

two  months  measure  yourself 
again  and  you  will  find  that 
your  chest  measure  has  in- 
creased. From  this  you  have 
the  right  to  conclude  that 
your  lungs  also  are  larger. 

We  often  talk  of  the  lungs 
as  if  they  were  a  pair  of  big 
bags  tucked  in  under  the  ribs 
somewhere,  waiting  to  swell  out  or  to  sink  in  according 
as  we  use  them.  In  a  way  the  notion  of  the  bag  is 
rather  correct,  except  that  instead  of  two  bags,  one  on 


WITH  HIS  CHEST  EXPANDED 


126 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


each  side,  we  must  think  of  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  microscopic  bags  called  air  sacs.  We  must  recall 
what  we  learned  in  Good  Health,  and  think  of  each  one 
of  these  sacs  as  the  expanded  end  of  a  tiny  tube  that 
ends  in  it.  We  must  remember  that  the  tubes  them- 
selves are  the  small  twigs  of  larger  tube  branches,  and 
that  within  the  large  chamber  which  the  ribs  make  we 

have  two  sets  of  these  branch- 
ing tubes  ending  in  air  sacs. 
Each  set  is  called  a  lung.  The 
heart  lies  between  the  right 
and  left  lungs,  and  is  a  trifle 
more  on  the  left  than  on  the 
right  side. 

For  the  sake  of  saving  time 
and  space  a  few  facts,  new 
and  old,  must  be  given  under  numbered  headings.  They 
show  how  the  lungs  help  us  throughout  our  lives: 

1.  Blood  that  enters  the  lungs  is  so  dark  and  so 
well  laden  with  carbon  dioxid — although  there  is 
also  some  oxygen  in  it — that  we   call  it  impure. 
Blood  that  leaves  the  lungs  is  so  well  loaded  with 
oxygen  that  it  has  gained  a  bright  scarlet  color, 
and  we  call  it  pure,  as  indeed  it  is.    Even  in  pure 
arterial  blood,  however,  there  is  some  carbon  dioxid. 

2.  Lungs  are  at  work  not  because  they  themselves 
need  air,  but  because  they  serve  as  a  storehouse  and 


A  HOLLOW  CHEST 


WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR 


127 


a  place  where  oxygen  and  carbon  dioxid  may  change 
places.  Such  a  central  exchange  is  needed  because, 
as  we  know,  here  and  there  over  the  entire  body 
each  smallest  tissue  is  in  need  of  oxygen  and  must 
be  relieved  of  its  carbon  dioxid.  It  is  in  the  lungs 
that  blood  unloads  itself  of  most  of  its  carbon  di- 
oxid, loads  itself  up  with  oxygen,  and  streams  off  to 
some  distant  destination. 
Breathing, then,  is  mainly 
for  the  benefit  of  the  tis- 
sues of  the  body,  not  for 
the  sake  of  the  lungs 
themselves. 

3.  All  the  blood  of  the 
body  comes  to  the  lungs 
and  goes  away  again  once 
every  twenty-three  sec- 
onds. While  it  passes 
through  the  lungs  it  does  not  leave  the  capillaries, 
but  the  capillaries  themselves  are  so  closely  inter- 
twined with  the  air  sacs  that  the  two  cannot  be 
separated.  And  while  they  lie  thus  near  together, 
with  capillaries  close  about  the  air  sacs,  rapid  ex- 
changes are  taking  place.  Oxygen  mixed  with  the 
other  gases  of  the  air  is  on  one  side  of  the  animal 
membrane  of  the  air  sac;  carbon  dioxid,  with  a 
little  oxygen,  is  in  the  blood  on  the  other  side  of 


TUBES  AND  AIR  SACS  OF  THE 
LUNGS 


128  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

the  membrane  within  the  capillaries.  And  as  the 
gases  are  side  by  side,  two  of  them  —  the  oxygen 
and  the  carbon  dioxid  —  change  places  without 
delay.  Oxygen  enters  the  blood  from  the  air  sac ; 
carbon  dioxid  enters  the  air  sac  from  the  blood; 
the  red  corpuscle  carriers  are  loaded  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye,  and  hasten  off  to  unload  where  their 
cargo  is  called  for.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the 
large  supply  of  carbon  dioxid  is  as  unwelcome  in 
the  air  sac  as  it  is  everywhere  else  in  the  body.  It 
is  therefore  expelled  as  promptly  as  possible  by  an 
outgoing  breath. 

In  view  of  these  three  important  facts  it  is  quite  evi- 
dent that  large,  healthy  lungs  will  be  invaluable  to  any 
one  who  wishes  to  take  vigorous  exercise,  and  that,  on 
the  other  hand,  this  exercise  itself  is  the  very  best  thing 
that  can  be  done  to  develop  the  lungs. 

A  man  is  always  glad  when  his  chest  measure  seems 
to  show  that  he  has  large  lung  capacity;  and  many  a 
man  with  a  narrow  chest  has  tried  to  enlarge  his  lungs 
by  raising  his  ribs,  by  walking  with  chest  forward,  by 
taking  exercises  which  have  given  him  strong  arms,  a 
strong  back,  and  firm  muscles  across  the  chest.  In  so 
far  as  these  exercises  made  him  breathe  deeply  he  helped 
himself,  but  unless  he  held  this  fact  in  mind  he  may  not 
have  gained  so  much  as  he  hoped,  for  the  surest  way 
to  increase  the  size  of  the  lungs  is  by  exercising  the 


WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR  129 

breathing  muscles  and  by  stretching  the  air  sacs  them- 
selves. The  entire  group  of  sacs  should  often  be  com- 
pelled to  expand  more  fully  than  they  naturally  do  in 
the  course  of  regular  daily  breathing ;  and  the  best  way 
to  expand  them  is  not  by  standing  still  and  taking 
deep  breaths,  but  by  using  large  muscles  vigorously, 
thus  compelling  the  lungs  to  work  hard  too. 

Many  a  sagging  chest  hides  from  sight  multitudes  of 
inactive  air  sacs  that  have  never  been  expanded  through 
hard  exercise.  Nevertheless,  each  separate 
one  would  have  worked  well  and  would 
have  increased  in  size  if  its  owner  had 
been  intelligent  enough  to  compel  it  to 
gain   capacity  and   power  through   such 
hard  breathing  as  comes  from  fast  walk- 
ing, from   running  or  jumping,  or  from     GROUPS  OF  AIR 
lively  games  played  out  of  doors. 

Unless  some  care  is  taken,  endless  numbers  of  air  sacs 
may  stay  inactive  for  weeks  together,  and  end  by  being 
a  source  of  danger.  Only  by  the  full  breath,  which  is 
broad  as  well  as  deep,  does  much  air  get  into  the  upper 
corners  of  the  lungs,  and  these  air  sacs,  left  inactive, 
yield  quickest  to  disease  microbes  when  the  attack 
comes.  It  is  indeed  just  here  that  tuberculosis  most 
often  begins  its  work.  This  dread  disease  makes  rapid 
advance  in  the  lungs  of  those  who  have  the  largest 
number  of  unused  air  sacs. 


130 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


• 


Even  for  the  sake  of  future  health,  then,  exercise  of  the 
lungs  is  invaluable.  This  exercise  may  be  secured  in  one 
of  two  ways : 

i.  By  voluntary  full  breathing  exercises.  Ten  full 
breaths  taken  three   times  each  day  will  keep  the 

air  sacs  in  active  con- 
dition. This  is  much 
better  than  nothing. 

2.  By  involuntary 
full  breathing.  This 
may  be  brought  about 
very  quickly  by  giving 
vigorous  exercise  to 
the  large  muscles  of 
the  body.  Running  and 
climbing,  skipping  rope 
and  dancing,  anything 

HEART  AND  LUNGS  IN  CLOSE  that  USCS  large  muscles 

CONNECTION  fast  will  fill  the  air  sacs 

A,  left  lung;  B,  heart ;  D,  tube  through  anc[  keep  them  in  good 
which  blood  goes  to  the  lungs  to  be  puri-  t 

fied  ;  E,  windpipe  through  which  air  goes  condition.      YOU    may 
to  the  lungs  with  oxygen  for  the  air  sacs 


for  yourself> 

While  taking  exercise  or  breathing  at  any  other  time, 
keep  in  mind  the  following  valuable  points  learned  in 
Good  Health  : 

i.  Air  enters  the  lungs  through  tubes  that  begin 
with  the  nose  and  end  in  air  sacs. 


WHERE  BLOOD   CHANGES  COLOR  131 

2.  As  a  rule,  breathing  should  be  done  through 
the  nose  and  not  through  the  mouth,  because  the 
delicate,  damp  lining  of  the  nose  warms  the  air  and 
cleans  it  before  it  reaches  the  air  sacs. 

3.  It  is  important  to  send  down  well-cleaned  air, 
because  the  inside  lining  of  each  air  tube  is  made 
of  the  most  delicate  membrane  and  is  easily  injured. 
Dust  that  brings  tears  to  the  eyes   is  even  more 
harmful  to  the  lungs. 

With  all  these  facts  before  him,  let  the  young  person 
who  has  a  narrow  or  a  flat  chest  set  about  his  own  im- 
provement. Let  him  apply  his  knowledge  and  secure  for 
himself  a  chest  that  will  be  a  cause  for  honest  pride.  If 
he  wishes  to  be  an  athlete,  he  must  not  forget  that  the 
best  developed  leg  muscles  are  of  little  use  for  running 
unless  the  lungs  and  the  heart  are  able  to  do  their  share 
of  the  work.  For,  as  some  one  has  said,  "  We  run  as 
much  with  our  lungs  and  our  heart  as  with  our  legs." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE 

What  a  man  eats  and  drinks  is  so  important  to  the 
welfare  of  his  body  that  the  following  facts  about  drinks 
which  many  people  use  every  day  cannot  be  omitted 
from  a  practical  book  on  hygiene. 

Chemists  say  that  in  these  days  he  who  uses  an  alco- 
holic beverage,  whether  as  a  drink  or  as  a  tonic,  cannot 
know  what  he  is  really  taking.  He  has  paid  for  some- 
thing which  contains  alcohol,  to  be  sure,  but  startling 
revelations  have  been  made  about  that  which  he  may 
have  received  in  its  place. 

In  1906  Dr.  Warren,  who  was  State  Food  Commis- 
sioner for  Pennsylvania  at  the  time,  made  an  official 
statement  in  which  he  said : 

Out  of  600  samples  of  alcoholic  liquors,  450  samples  were  found  to 
be  adulterated.  Wood  alcohol  causing  nerve  atrophy,  convulsions,  im- 
paired vision,  blindness,  and  even  death ;  salicylic  acid,  causing  intes- 
tinal derangements,  dyspepsia,  and  kidney  diseases ;  coal-tar  dyes  that 
are  active  poisons  and  that  cause  diseases  of  the  digestive  tracts ;  sul- 
phites that  have  the  same  effect;  red  pepper  and  other  powerful  irri- 
tants,—  are  some  of  the  adulterations  which  lurk  in  many  thousands  of 
bottles  and  kegs  of  whisky,  wine,  beer,  and  other  intoxicants  that  un- 
doubtedly will  be  placed  on  sale  within  the  next  year.  The  flood  of  this 

132 


ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE    133 

poisonous  stuff  has  just  commenced.  A  new  legislature  will  not  meet 
until  January,  1907.  It  is  necessary,  in  the  meantime,  that  public  atten- 
tion be  called  to  the  dangers  that  lie  in  the  use  of  adulterated  drinks. 

On  the  1 5th  of  April,  1907,  the  general  manager  of  the 
St.  Louis  Wholesale  Liquor  Association  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  liquor  trade  in  which  he  said : 

We  retail  dealers  have  allowed  the  "  reduction  rogues  "  to  swindle 
us  out  of  millions  by  substituting  for  good  whisky,  which  we  paid  them 
for,  a  compound  that  would'  kill  a  horse  if  he  drank  it.  We  have  unwit- 
tingly sold  this  accursed  poison  to  the  youth  and  the  flower  of  our  man- 
hood, many  of  whom  have  been  crazed,  have  lost  their  manhood,  their 
honor,  and  their  all,  because  they  drank  it.  Their  mothers,  their  sisters, 
their  fathers,  their  brothers,  and  their  friends  are  driving  us  retailers  out 
of  business. 

Perhaps  we  wonder  why  alcoholic  drinks  should  ever 
be  adulterated.  Two  reasons  are  given  : 

1.  All  the   wine-producing   districts  of  America 
and  Europe  combined  do  not  supply  enough  of  the 
different  kinds  of  wines  to  meet  the  demands  of 
those  who  wish  to  use  them. 

2.  Pure  alcohol  is  heavily  taxed,  but  after  the  tax 
has  been  paid  the  alcohol  can  be  secretly  weakened 
and  cheapened  by  adding  water  and  drugs  to  it. 
Water  is  added  for  bulk,  and  such  drugs  are  put  in  as 
will  give  the  desired  taste  and  at  the  same  time  make 
a  man  feel  as  alcohol  itself  makes  him  feel  after  he 
drinks  it.    Sadly  enough  for  the  one  who  drinks,  few 
things  but  poison  can  accomplish  this  last  result 


134  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Those  who  understand  the  danger  which  lurks  in  alco- 
hol may  be  inclined  to  ask  if,  after  all,  the  water  and  the 
drugs  do  not  make  a  safer  mixture  for  a  man  than  the 
drink  which  holds  more  alcohol.  The  answer  is  that  such 
poisons  as  are  used  in  adulterating  alcoholic  drinks  are 
often  even  more  violent  and  more  harmful  to  the  body 
than  alcohol  itself. 

Some  time  ago  the  legislature  of  Ohio  asked  Dr.  Hiram 
Cox,  a  distinguished  chemist,  to  make  a  thorough  ex- 
amination of  alcoholic  liquors.  He  worked  on  the  subject 
for  two  years,  and  in  a  letter  afterwards  said : 

I  have  made  over  six  hundred  inspections  of  stores  and  lots  of 
liquors  of  every  variety,  and  now  positively  assert  that  over  ninety  per 
cent  of  all  that  I  have  analyzed  were  adulterated  with  the  most  per- 
nicious and  poisonous  ingredients. 

Another  letter  says : 

I  called  at  a  grocery  one  day  where  liquor  was  being  sold.  A  couple 
of  men  came  in  while  I  was  there,  and  called  for  some  whisky.  The 
first  one  drank,  and  the  moment  he  drank  the  tears  flowed  freely,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  caught  his  breath  like  one  suffocating  or  strangling. 
The  second  man  drank  and  went  through  like  contortions.  After  they 
had  left  I  asked  the  proprietor  to  pour  me  out  a  little  in  my  tumbler. 
I  went  to  my  office,  got  my  apparatus,  and  examined  it.  I  found  it 
seventeen  per  cent  alcoholic  spirits  when  it  should  have  been  fifty,  and 
the  difference  in  percentage  was  made  up  by  sulphuric  acid,  red  pepper, 
pellitory,  brucine,  and  strychnine. 

In  commenting  about  it  he  says,  "  One  pint  of  such 
liquor  at  one  time  would  kill  the  strongest  man." 


ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND   PATENT  MEDICINE    135 

Two  fishermen  bought  a  pint  of  whisky.  They  drank 
it  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  that  afternoon 
they  were  found  dead  with  the  empty  bottle  beside  them. 
When  the  man  from  whom  they  bought  the  liquor  heard 
about  their  death,  he  emptied  his  cask  of  whisky  into 
the  ditch.  There  was  therefore  no  proof  against  him. 
Nevertheless,  all  who  knew  what  had  happened  felt  sure 
that  the  whisky  had  killed  the  men. 

No  sane  man  would  for  a  moment  think  of  taking  a 
liquor  dealer's  recipe  book,  of  which  there  are  many,  and 
putting  up  for  himself  a  compound  of  water  and  poisons 
such  as  some  of  the  recipes  call  for.  It  would  not  occur 
to  him  that  it  would  be  safe  for  him  to  drink  such  a  com- 
pound. Yet  the  same  man  runs  a  greater  risk  when  he 
buys  a  drink  at  any  retail  or  wholesale  place  ;  for  the  last 
man  who  weakened  and  poisoned  the  stuff  has  no  more 
idea  than  the  man  who  buys  it,  how  many  times  it  has 
already  been  weakened  and  poisoned  before  it  reached 
his  hands.  Expensive  drinks  are  quite  as  unsafe  as 
cheap  drinks. 

Judging  by  its  name,  our  port  wine  comes  from  Oporto, 
Portugal.  But  Mr.  Cyrus  Redding  once  made  a  report 
on  the  subject  to  a  committee  appointed  by  the  House  of 
Commons,  England.  He  said  that  every  year  Oporto 
exports  20,000  pipes1  of  wine,  but  that  England  alone 
uses  60,000  pipes  of  this  same  wine  each  year.  Where, 

1  One  pipe  is  equal  to  126  gallons. 


136  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

then,  does  the  vast  quantity  of  port  wine  come  from  that 
is  used  in  the  rest  of  Europe  and  in  America  ? 

Mr.  Redding  shows  that  this  is  the  manufactured  re- 
sult of  what  has  passed  from  hand  to  hand  through  the 
wholesale  and  the  retail  dealers.  Water,  poisons,  coloring 
matter ;  more  water,  more  poison,  and  more  color,  —  mark 
the  steps  of  its  progress  until  the  combination  of  water 
and  chemicals  is  finally  sold  as  fine  port  wine  imported 
from  Portugal. 

From  first  to  last  the  work  of  concealment  is  so  well 
done  that  even  an  expert  cannot  tell  by  taste,  smell,  or 
color  that  it  is  a  dangerous  compound  of  chemicals. 
A  chemist,  however,  with  his  apparatus  can  always  find 
the  poisons. 

These  facts,  which  no  one  thinks  of  denying,  do  not 
mean  that  those  who  use  alcohol  are  in  danger  of  being 
killed  suddenly  by  it.  We  ourselves  know  that  this  is  not 
true.  Multitudes  of  people  drink  more  or  less  frequently 
throughout  their  lives,  and  almost  never  does  even  a 
newspaper  reporter  hear  of  a  man  who  has  dropped  dead 
because  he  drank. 

No,  the  newspaper  reporter  is  not  the  one  to  go  to 
when  we  wish  to  know  about  the  life-and-death  results 
of  drinking.  To  get  such  facts  we  study  the  statistical 
tables  of  life-insurance  societies.  There  we  find  that  he 
who  uses  alcohol  reduces  his  chance  for  life  by  weaken- 
ing the  power  of  his  body  to  resist  disease  microbes.  For 


ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE    137 

definite  facts  and  figures,  turn  to  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
Town  and  City. 

Aside  from  alcoholic  drinks,  however,  chemists  find 
that  many  patent  medicines  also  contain  opium,  cocaine, 
alcohol,  and  other  strong  poisons.  And  just  because 
these  poisons  are  so  powerful,  the  innocent  victim  may 
find  comfort  for  a  season.  His  nerves  may  be  quieted,  his 
pain  relieved.  But  later  comes  the  curse.  That  which 
seemed  so  helpful  often  ends  by  hastening  the  progress 
of  the  disease  it  was  supposed  to  cure.  This  is  specially 
true  of  consumption.  Or,  instead,  the  drug  habit  may  be 
formed  through  medicine,  and  a  man  may  discover  too 
late  that  he  is  doomed. 

Chemists  testify  that  most  medicines  which  go  by  the 
name  of  "  tonics,"  "  bitters,"  and  relievers  of  pain  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  contain  a  large  per  cent  of  alcohol.  Often  as 
much  as  one  quarter  of  the  entire  liquid  in  the  bottle  is 
alcohol. 

In  view  of  their  disclosures  these  men  and  others  have 
insisted  that  innocent  people  should  not  be  cheated  into 
the  use  of  any  poison  through  ignorance  of  what  they 
are  buying.  These  scientists  have  indeed  been  so  much 
in  earnest  and  so  active  in  their  agitation  of  the  subject 
that  at  last  the  United  States  government  has  passed  a 
law  which  helps  the  case  greatly.  It  demands  that  the 
names  of  every  poison  in  a  bottle  of  patent  medicine 
shall  be  printed  plainly  on  a  label  and  pasted  on  the 


138  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

bottle.  The  amount  of  alcohol  must  also  be  stated  on 
the  same  label. 

If  a  bottle  of  patent  medicine  bears  no  such  label,  it  is 
evident  that  its  contents  hide  neither  alcohol  nor  poison ; 
it  has  no  confession  to  make.  If  there  is  a  label,  remem- 
ber that,  as  a  rule,  each  name  on  it  stands  for  a  poison. 

He  who  is  unwise  enough  to  buy  patent  medicine 
should  balance  his  mistake  by  being  wise  enough  to 
study  the  label  before  he  uses  the  contents  of  the  bottle. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING 

It  was  a  novel  thing  in  the  history  of  the  world  for 
men  who  were  connected  with  a  national  army  to  serve 
their  country  by  being  used  as  a  sort  of  laboratory  for 


SOLDIERS  WHO  SERVED  ON  THE  EATING  EXPERIMENTS 

food  experiments.    But  this  was  done  by  certain  soldiers 
of  the  United  States  army  in  the  year  1903. 

Professor  Chittenden  of  Yale  University  had  decided 
to  conduct  some  scientific  experiments  on  a  rather  large 
scale.  He  began  with  himself,  enlisted  the  help  of  others, 
and  finally  had  in  hand  thirteen  soldiers  whose  ages 
ranged  from  twenty-two  years  and  six  months  to  forty- 
three  years.  Several  of  these  men  were  Americans. 
Others  were  from  Porto  Rico,  from  Palestine,  from 


140  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Switzerland,  and  from  England.  They  were  sent  to  New 
Haven  from  the  hospital  corps  of  the  United  States  army, 
and  they  submitted  to  the  tests  as  a  part  of  their  every- 
day military  duty. 

Close  attention  was  given  to  the  men  in  several  ways. 
At  quarter  of  seven  each  morning  they  were  weighed. 
This  was  necessary,  for  they  were  eating  about  half  as 
much  meat  as  usual,  with  somewhat  less  of  other  kinds 
of  food,  and  it  was  important  to  know  each  day  whether 
they  were  gaining  or  losing  by  the  new  course  of  diet. 

At  seven  came  breakfast.  Here  each  separate  kind  of 
food  was  weighed  before  it  was  given  to  the  man  who 
was  to  eat  it.  What  he  did  not  eat  was  also  weighed, 
that  Dr.  Chittenden  might  know  just  how  much  had 
been  used.  Moreover,  these  men  were  allowed  to  eat 
only  such  food  as  was  served  to  them.  In  other  words, 
for  each  meal  they  were  told  when  to  eat,  what  to  eat, 
and  how  much  to  eat.  All  eating  between  meals  was 
strictly  forbidden. 

Aside  from  this  close  care  about  their  food  the  men 
were  not  hampered  in  many  other  ways.  They  went  to 
the  theater  sometimes,  worked  in  the  Yale  gymnasium 
an  hour  a  day,  had  regular  drill  under  their  officers,  and 
went  to  bed  at  ten  o'clock. 

No  doubt  the  whole  affair  grew  monotonous  at  times, 
and  it  has  been  said  that  a  few  of  the  men  were  inclined 
to  protest  against  it.  On  the  whole,  however,  they  went 


• 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING  141 

through  it  without  hesitation,  and  when  they  left  New 
Haven  at  the  end  of  six  months,  Dr.  Anderson,  director 
of  the  gymnasium,  wrote  about  them  as  follows: 

The  men  were  not  above  the  average  standard  physically  when  they 
began  their  work,  this  standard  being  set  by  applicants  for  positions  as 


TEN  OF  THE  SOLDIERS  TAKING  EXERCISE  IN  THE  GYMNASIUM 

firemen  and  policemen,  not  by  college  students.  At  the  end  of  the  train- 
ing they  were  much  above  the  same  standard,  while  the  strength  tests 
were  far  greater  than  the  averages  made  by  college  men. 

These  tests  did  not  settle  all  food  questions,  but  they 
seemed  to  make  it  clear  that  even  soldiers  may  gain 


142  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

strength  on  much  less  meat  than  they  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  eating.  As  for  the  rest  of  us,  science  has  proved 
that  the  work  of  the  body  is  closely  related  to  the  food 
we  give  it;  that  the  kind  of  food  makes  a  difference  in 
the  quality  of  the  work;  that  he  who  works  little,  harms 
himself  when  he  eats  much,  and  that  growing  children 
need  much  more  food  than  their  inactive  elders. 

All  scientists  agree  that  food  does  two  things  for 
the  body: 

1.  Food  builds  tissue;  that  is,  it  makes  the  body 
grow  by  adding  fresh  tissue,  and  it  keeps  the  body 
new  by  replacing  all  tissues  as  fast  as  they  wear  out. 

2.  Food  produces  energy  by  which  the  body  does 
work  and  keeps  itself  warm.    Food  so  used  is  the 
fuel  for  our  engines. 

We  eat,  then,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  one  or  the 
other  of  these  two  great  demands  of  the  body,  and  our 
success  or  failure  in  life  may  easily  turn  on  what  we 
know  or  do  not  know  about  the  value  of  our  food. 

When  Professor  Chittenden  planned  meals  for  his 
soldiers,  his  main  thought  was  not  as  to  wrhether  he 
should  give  them  beefsteak,  mutton  chops,  fish,  eggs, 
bread,  or  vegetables,  but  whether  or  not  he  was  giving 
them  the  right  proportions  of  certain  substances  which 
living  bodies  need  if  they  are  to  do  good  work.  This 
would  be  easier  to  understand  if  our  bodies  were 
blocked  off  in  patches,  with  each  separate  substance 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING  143 

firmly  held  in  a  special  district  of  its  own.  In  point  of 
fact,  however,  the  few  general  materials  out  of  which  our 
bodies  are  built  are  so  closely  intermixed  with  each  other 
in  blood  and  tissue  that  only  the  chemist  can  separate 
them.  The  next  page  shows  his  work  in  a  table  which  is 
made  up  from  the  reports  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.  It  shows  how  the  materials  which 
the  body  must  have  are  distributed  in  some  of  the  foods 
we  eat.  In  this  table  the  single  word  "carbohydrate"  is 
used  instead  of  the  two  words  "  sugar  "  and  "  starch." 

Look  over  the  long  list,  which  is  only  for  reference  and 
not  to  be  memorized,  and  notice  that  our  entire  supply 
of  food  comes  from  living  and  growing  things,  that  is, 
from  plants  or  from  animals.  Plants  gather  nourishment 
for  themselves  from  earth  and  air  and  water.  Animals 
cannot  do  this.  Instead,  by  their  nature  they  must  live 
either  on  the  flesh  of  other  animals  or  on  material  which 
plants  have  gathered  and  stored  up  for  their  own  use. 

This  fact  gives  an  added  interest  to  the  table  of  foods. 
Notice  that  in  every  case  the  animal  food  is  rich  in  pro- 
teid,  and  be  ready  to  remember  that  proteid  is  the  food 
substance  which  builds  the  tissues  of  the  body.  That  is, 
when  muscle  is  broken  down  through  exercise,  proteid 
is  used  to  build  it  up  again. 

Notice  also  that  the  plant  foods  in  this  table  are  rich 
in  carbohydrates,  and  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  carbo- 
hydrates are  the  food  substances  which  produce  energy 


144  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

FOOD  SUBSTANCES  AS  FOUND  IN  DIFFERENT  ARTICLES  OF  DiET1 


PROTEID 

CARBO- 
HYDRATE 

FAT 

WATER 

MINERAL 
MATTER 

Bread                    .-    .     .     .     . 

8.9 
I3.8 

16.1 

8 

7- 

2-5 

3-3 
25-9 
22.3 

25 

21.2 
21-5 
21.8 

134 
I.O 

6 
i3-4 
n-3 

5-8 
6-3 
3-1 
4-4 
3-3 
1.8 
22.5 
1.6 

24.6 

0.9 

i-3 
0.4 

2.1 
2  I.O 
25.8 
17.0 

1  6.6 

56.7        ' 
71.9 
67-5 
79 
16.9 
20.9 

5 
2.4 

3-3 
74.1 

70-5 
63-5 
65-9 
42.8 
21.7 
28.2 

3-3 
59.6 

5-6 
19.7 
62 
3-9 

22 

9-9 
73-3 
"7-3 

24.4 
7.0 
16.1 

4.1 
I.9 

7.2 

o-3 
o-5 

O.I 

4 
33-7 
28'.6 

22.6 

8.0 

2-5 
12.  1 
10.5 
85 

J-3 

0.9 
10.5 

9 
10.7 

9-8 
8.4 
3-2 

0.2 

1.8 

o-3 
i.i 
i 
0.4 
0.6 
0.6 

54-9 
38.6 
66.8 
63-4 

29.2 
II.4 

7-3 

74.6 

75-5 
87 
34-2 
48.2 

5°-9 
70-3 
74-8 

63-5 
73-7 
ii 
88.3 
10.3 
4.8 
18.8 

IS-3 

42-5 
64.2 

64.5 
94 

12.6 

9i-5 
754 
9-5 
94-3 

m 

22.3 

4.8 
9.2 

5-3 

2-5 

I.I 

I 
I.9 
0.4 

I.O 

0.7 

3-8 
"•3 

1.2 
I 
I.I 
2.6 
I.O 

3 
i.i 

i-3 

2-9 
2-9 

1.8 
1.8 

i-3 
0.8 

0.7 

3-5 

i 
0.7 
2.9 
0.5 
0.8 

O.2 

2-3 
2.O 
2.O 

3-9 
1.4 

Wheat  flour        ... 

Rice       .               

Potatoes     

Milk  

Cheese  
Roast  beef 

Leg  of  mutton 

Veal 

Chicken 

Canned  salmon                  .     . 

"pprcr 

Butter 

Fresh  oysters  (solid)    .     .     . 
Macaroni 

Oyster  crackers 

Gingerbread 

Sponge  cake                       . 

Apple  pie  . 

Squash  pie 

Tapioca  pudding     .... 
Fresh  asparagus      .... 
Dried  beans    
Fresh  cabbage    .          ... 

Green  corn     
Dried  peas      ...          .     . 

Fresh  tomatoes  
Bananas          

Fresh  cranberries    .... 
Dried  prunes  .     .     .     .     .     . 
Almonds 

Peanuts 

Brazil  nuts      
Soft-shell  walnuts    .... 

1  Notice  that  some  of  the  substances  in  the  table  are  moist  while  others  are  dry ;  and  re- 
member that  before  many  of  the  dry  foods  are  eaten  a  great  deal  of  water  is  added  to  them. 
This  is  notably  true  of  the  cereals,  of  rice,  and  of  flour.  For  example,  what  we  buy  as  one 
pound  of  rice  at  the  grocer's  comes  to  the  table  as  nearly  four  pounds  of  moist  food.  The 
chief  difference  between  dry  and  moist  foods  is  simply  that  when  we  eat  dry  foods  we  take 
less  of  the  food  and  more  water.  Vegetables,  fruit,  meat,  milk,  eggs,  puddings,  and  pies  are 
moist  foods.  See  the  quantity  of  water  in  them  which  the  table  shows. 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING  145 

THE  SAME  FOOD  SUBSTANCES  SHOWN  IN  A  DIFFERENT  WAY1 


PROTEID      CARBOHYDRATE 


Bread  .  .  .  . 
Wheat  flour  .  . 
Oatmeal  .  .  . 

Rice 

Green  peas  .  .  . 
Potatoes.  .  .  . 
Milk  .  .  .  .  . 
Cheese  .  .  .  . 
Roast  beef  .  .  . 
Leg  of  mutton . 

Veal 

Chicken  .  .  .  . 
Canned  salmon 

Egg 

Butter  .  .  .  . 
Fresh  oysters  .  . 
Macaroni  .  .  . 
Oyster  crackers  . 
Gingerbread  .  . 
Sponge  cake  .  . 
Apple  pie  .  .  . 
Squash  pie  .  .  . 
Tapioca  pudding  . 
Fresh  asparagus  . 
Dried  beans  .  . 
Fresh  cabbage 
Green  corn  .  .  . 
Dried  peas  .  .  . 
Fresh  tomatoes  . 
Bananas  .... 
Fresh  cranberries 
Dried  prunes  . 
Almonds  .  .  . 
Peanuts  .  .  .  . 
Brazil  nuts  .  .  . 
Soft-shell  walnuts 


l  These  tables  are  made  up  from  facts  supplied  by  Bulletin  28  (revised  edition)  of  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 


146  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

by  which  the  body  does  its  work  and  keeps  itself  warm. 
Proteid  also  helps  in  both  these  directions. 

When  more  carbohydrate  is  eaten  than  is  called  for 
by  the  work  of  the  body,  the  surplus  is  stored  up  as  fat ; 
and  this  fat  is  as  important  to  the  body  for  use  in  times 
of  extra  pressure,  as  is  money  in  the  bank  for  a  man  who 
may  at  some  time  need  more  money  than  he  has  in  hand. 
Too  much  fat  is,  however,  a  disadvantage,  for  an  over- 
supply  reduces  the  power  of  the  muscles. 

When  more  proteid  is  eaten  than  the  body  can  use, 
the  surplus  is  sent  off  through  the  kidneys.  Those  who 
eat  too  much  meat  often  overtax  their  kidneys  to  such 
an  extent  that  they  suffer  from  rheumatism  and  gout. 
More  is  said  about  this  in  Chapter  XXII. 

Babies  grow  fast  and  take  little  exercise,  hence  their 
food  —  milk  —  contains  both  proteid  and  carbohydrate. 
Later  on  the  same  child  will  be  a  man;  he  will  then 
grow  little  and  exercise  much,  and  will  therefore  need 
several  times  as  much  carbohydrate  (fuel  food)  as  pro- 
teid (tissue  food). 

Study  the  table  of  foods  carefully  and  decide  which 
articles  may  be  wisely  put  together  for  the  same  meal. 
Professor  Chittenden  himself  had  these  food  substances 
in  mind  when  he  planned  meals  for  the  soldiers.  He 
knew  that  all  kinds  of  meat  and  some  kinds  of  vegeta- 
bles are  rich  in  proteids ;  that  grains  and  vegetables  are 
specially  rich  in  sugar  and  starch  (carbohydrates) ;  that 


EXPERIMENTS  IN   EATING 


mineral  matter  which  we  need 
also  found  in  most  meats  and 
as  we  do,  that  the  great  food 
questions  turn  upon  the  pro- 
teids  and  the  carbohydrates. 
In  giving  directions,  there- 
fore, he  was  careful  to  order 
a  mixed  diet  of  carbohydrates 
and  proteids  for  the  same 
meal.  When,  for  example,  he 
selected  beans,  cheese,  or  eggs, 
he  gave  little  if  any  meat ;  in- 
stead, he  provided  foods  rich 
in  starch  or  sugar,  with  vege- 
tables and  fruit,  for  example, 
or  with  some  simple  sweet 
dessert. 

Housekeepers  succeed  best 
when  they  too  keep  sight  of 
these  proteid  and  carbohy- 
drate facts.  They  are  then 
able  to  make  wise  and  nour- 
ishing combinations  for  their 
families.  They  know  why  a 
man  receives  as  much  nour- 
ishment from  eggs  and  beans 
and  cheese,  as  from  steak  and 


comes  in  table  salt  and  is 
vegetables.    And  he  saw, 


THIS    SHOWS  WHAT   PROPORTION   OF 

THE  HUMAN  BODY  is  COMPOSED  OF 

EACH  SUBSTANCE  WHICH  WE  TAKE 

AS  FOOD 

Little  carbohydrate  appears  because 
most  of  the  sugar  and  starch  which  we 
eat  is  used  up  in  the  shape  of  heat  and 
muscular  work  and  sent  from  the  body 
as  carbon  dioxid.  When  we  eat  more 
carbohydrate  than  we  need,  the  sur- 
plus is  stored  up  as  fat.  The  diagram 
shows  that  the  body  keeps  a  good  deal 
of  this  on  hand  ready  for  use 

(Copied  from  Practical  Hygiene,  by  Alice 
Ravenhill) 


148  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

roasts.  They  know  why  boiled  potatoes  alone  are  not 
so  nourishing  as  creamed  potatoes,  and  why  pickles  and 
tea  and  coffee  are  almost  useless  as  food. 

Just  here  it  should  be  stated  that  food  is  needed  not 
for  nourishment  alone,  but  for  bulk  as  well.  Were  it  not 
for  this  we  might  be  content  to  have  our  food  condensed 
to  small  pellets  and  swallowed  quickly  with  a  mouthful 
of  water.  The  objection  to  this  simple  scheme  is  that 
the  extended  size  and  length  of  the  stomach  and  the 
food  tube  have  to  be  taken  into  account.  They  require 
food  which  shall  be  bulky  enough  to  be  acted  on. 
Vegetables  and  fruit  have  special  value  for  this  reason. 
The  same  is  true  of  graham  bread  and  grains  with  the 
hulls  on.  Much  of  the  tissue  of  vegetables  and  fruit  is 
not  useful  as  food,  but  it  is  of  great  value  in  giving  bulk 
for  the  walls  of  the  tube  to  exercise  themselves  upon. 

There  are  those  who  feel  very  sure  that  they  must  eat 
meat  of  some  sort  every  day.  So  indeed  they  must  if  they 
can  provide  themselves  with  proteid  in  no  other  way. 
But  there  are  multitudes  of  equally  active  people  who 
are  intelligent  enough  to  know  that  they  can  find  all 
the  proteid  they  need  in  other  foods  than  meat. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  soldiers  and  athletes  who 
shared  in  the  eating  experiments  had  no  very  definite 
notion  about  that  which  was  to  happen  to  the  food 
which  they  swallowed,  and  it  may  easily  be  that  some 
of  them  had  not  so  much  as  heard  about  Dr.  Cannon's 
experiments  on  cats. 

These  experiments  were  carried  on  in  the  laboratory 
of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  and  the  record  of  the 
work  was  published  in  1898.  Cats  were  chosen  because 
they  are  easy  to  get  hold  of,  ready  to  eat  when  they  are 
fed,  ready  to  sleep  at  almost  any  time,  and  easily  con- 
trolled. Even  among  cats,  however,  Dr.  Cannon  had  to 
choose  carefully,  for  only  those  who  were  good-natured 
were  useful  to  him. 

Having  made  his  choice,  he  took  bread,  mixed  into  it 
a  harmless  chemical  called  bismuth,  fed  it  to  his  cats,  and 
waited  for  results.  The  bismuth  was  put  in  for  just  one 
reason.  Its  presence  in  the  food  made  it  possible  to  get 
a  shadow  of  the  shape  of  the  stomach  by  means  of  X-rays. 
From  shadows  he  hoped  to  discover,  very  definitely,  how 

the  stomach  moves  during  the  time  that  it  is  digesting 

149 


150  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

its  contents.  Dr.  Cannon  was  fortunate  in  the  cats  he 
chose,  fortunate  in  his  helpers,  and  fortunate  in  what  he 
was  able  to  learn  through  the  X-rays;  for  he  learned 
facts  which  had  never  been  proved  before. 

After  being  fed  the  cat  was  put  in  place  for  its  shadow 
picture.  The  particular  cat  which  I  have  in  mind  was 
fed  at  fifty-two  minutes  after  ten  in  the  morning.  At 
eleven  o'clock  work  was  well  under  way  in  the  stomach, 
and  once  every  half  hour  after  that,  until  twelve  minutes 
after  six  in  the  afternoon,  the  kindly  cat  consented  to  be 
put  in  place  to  have  its  shadow  studied.  Dr.  Cannon 
traced  the  shadows  one  by  one,  so  that  an  exact  record 
was  kept  of  the  size  of  the  stomach  from  the  time  of 
the  hearty  feeding  until  there  was  nothing  left  to  be 
digested. 

During  this  time  there  had  been  an  interesting  course 
of  events.  When  first  seen  the  stomach  looked  like  a 
small  leg  of  ham  with  a  curled-up  tail  to  it.  But  when 
six  o'clock  came,  the  leg  shape  had  disappeared  entirely, 
leaving  nothing  but  the  tail  to  show  where  the  food  had 
been.  Moreover,  at  this  time,  the  cat  seemed  hungry  and 
called  for  food,  with  which  it  was  promptly  rewarded. 

The  diminishing  size  of  the  stomach  was  perhaps  one 
of  the  smallest  lessons  learned  that  day;  for  while  the 
cat  slept,  and  while  the  X-rays  were  focused  on  its 
stomach,  another  fact  was  noted.  It  appeared  that  food 
which  had  newly  arrived  stayed  quietly  in  the  upper 


CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY 


12.00, 


end  of  the  stomach  as  if  it  were  in 
a  reservoir.  Here  the  saliva  which 
had  been  swallowed  with  the  food 
had  a  longer  time  to  do  its  share  in 
the  work  of  digestion.  But  as  fast 
as  supplies  were  needed  further  on, 
this  reservoir  contracted  itself  and 
sent  its  contents  forward  a  little  at 
a  time. 

It  was  also  seen  that  the  firm  walls 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  stomach  had 
begun  to  contract  in  a  series  of  wave- 
like  movements.  These  waves  started 
near  the  middle  of  the  stomach  and 
moved  towards  the  smaller  end  of 
the  elastic  bag.  They  followed  each 
other  in  regular  succession.  Once 
every  ten  seconds  a  new  wave  took 
its  start  from  about  the  same  spot 
and  traveled  the  same  course  down 
to  the  smaller  end. 

Indeed,    whenever   the    shadows 
were  studied  during  that  day,  these 
waves  were   seen  to   be   following          CI  60(/ 
each   other  with   unceasing    regular-  CONTRACTION  OF  CAT'S 

ity.    Moreover,   as   time  passed,   and  STOMACH  (MUCH  RE- 
DUCED)  DURING   DICES- 

as  digestion  progressed,  this  middle 


400, 


,4.30. 


5.30^ 


TION 


152  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

part  of  the  stomach  grew  gradually  more  and  more 
slender,  like  a  neck,  while  the  larger  end  stayed  large 
for  a  longer  time. 

Through  his  study  of  shadows  Dr.  Cannon  learned 
that  within  about  fifteen  minutes  after  food  is  swallowed, 
a  slender  jet  of  softened  food  goes  with  a  spurt  through 
an  opening  at  the  lower  end  of  the  stomach  and  out  into 
the  tube  which  is  the  beginning  of  the  small  intestine. 

For  all  animals,  including  man,  this  exit  for  the  con- 
tents of  the  stomach  is  guarded  by  a  strong  muscle 
called  the  pylorus,  or  keeper  of  the  gate.  And  well  does 
this  keeper  do  its  work.  Sometimes,  with  every  wave 
that  rolls  in  its  direction,  it  opens  wide  enough  to  allow 
a  spurt  of  digested  liquid  food  called  chyme  to  go 
through.  But  sometimes  it  stays  persistently  shut  while 
wave  after  wave  pushes  in  vain  in  its  direction. 

For  the  sake  of  getting  an  explanation  of  this  uneven 
action  of  the  pylorus,  Dr.  Cannon  induced  the  cat  to 
swallow  a  small  specially  prepared  tablet  made  up  of 
starch  paste  on  the  outside  and  of  bismuth  the  size  of 
a  pea  at  its  center.  He  then  watched  the  progress  of  this 
pellet  in  the  stomach.  He  saw  it  stay  for  a  long  time  in 
the  large,  bulblike  end ;  saw  it  gradually  make  its  way 
farther  and  farther  down  as  it  was  sent  forward  by  the 
waves  of  contractions ;  and  finally  saw  that  for  forty-two 
minutes  after  the  pellet  reached  the  pylorus  that  dili- 
gent gate  keeper  allowed  nothing  to  pass  onward. 


CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY  153 

Over  and  over  again  the  round  bit  of  bismuth  and 
the  mass  of  soft  food  in  which  it  floated,  came  up  to  the 
pylorus  as  if  to  demand  free  passage  through.  And  over 
and  over  again,  just  as  often,  the  soft  as  well  as  the  hard 
was  positively  rejected  and  sent  shooting  backwards,  only 
to  come  again  and  again  to  be  rejected. 

This  was  kept  up  until  finally  the  most  fluid  of  the 
food  was  refused  no  longer.  It  went  onward.  Later  yet 
the  pylorus  seemed  to  give  up  all  protest.  It  seemed  to 
conclude  that  there  was  no  hope  of  ever  softening  the  bis- 
muth. This  also  was  then  permitted  to  go  on  in  company 
with  food  which  was  well  prepared  for  advancement. 

From  this  experiment  it  is  evident  that  the  disadvan- 
tage of  any  hard  substance  in  the  stomach  is  not  simply 
that  it  is  itself  slow  in  passing  on  through  the  pylorus, 
but  that  it  delays  the  progress  of  even  such  food  as  has 
already  been  reduced  to  chyme  —  food  which  should  be 
receiving  its  next  course  of  treatment  in  the  food  tube. 
The  main  objection  to  slow  digestion  is  that  after  food 
has  stayed  too  long  in  the  stomach  it  grows  sour  and 
gives  off  gases  which  stretch  the  walls  of  the  stomach 
and  cause  distress  of  various  kinds. 

The  next  time  you  eat  in  a  hurry  .and  are  tempted  to 
swallow  unchewed  lumps  of  food,  think  of  all  this  and 
control  yourself  in  time. 

During  the  X-ray  experiments  there  came  an  unex- 
pected turn  to  affairs  one  day.  Thus  far  Dr.  Cannon  had 


154 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


been  fortunate  enough  to  have  dealings  with  amiable  cats 
only.  They  had  eaten  when  he  wished,  had  been  quiet 
and  well-mannered  during  the  experiments,  and  had  slept 
when  required.  In  addition,  their  stomachs  had  gone 


Gall_ 
bladder 


Bile  Duct 


Intestine 


FromiheLiver 
1      1    Pylorus 


^Pancreatic  Ihict 


THE  HUMAN  STOMACH 

Food  reaches  the  stomach  from  the  mouth  through  the  oesophagus.  While 
digestion  goes  on,  bile  runs  from  the  liver  directly  into  the  intestine ;  at 
other  times  the  opening  of  the  bile  duct  is  shut,  and  instead  of  entering  the 
intestine,  bile  passes  into  the  gall  bladder,  where  it  is  stored  until  needed. 
The  outline  of  the  pancreas  is  shown  by  a  dotted  line 

steadily  to  work  when  food  was  put  into  them,  and  had 
kept  ploddingly  at  it  until  digestion  was  accomplished. 

But  a  different  type  of  cat  came  to  Dr.  Cannon's  hands 
one  morning.  This  one  ate  as  promptly  as  the  others, 
and  when  the  X-ray  was  arranged  the  shadow  showed  at 


CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY  155 

first  that  the  usual  regular  wave  action  of  the  muscular 
walls  was  taking  place.  Suddenly,  however,  the  animal 
lost  his  temper.  He  seemed  to  feel  outraged  that  any- 
thing should  be  going  on  which  he  did  not  understand. 
He  refused  to  purr  as  did  the  other  cats ;  he  insisted  on 
being  released.  Being  in  such  a  state  of  mind,  he  was 
useless  and  had  to  go.  But  before  he  was  dismissed  it 
was  seen  that  all  the  action  of  the  waves  had  stopped. 
So  much  so,  indeed,  that  the  stomach  was  as  inactive  as 
if  it  were  empty  of  food. 

This  led  to  close  observation  of  the  connection  be- 
tween the  feelings  of  a  cat  and  the  behavior  of  its 
stomach  during  digestion.  These  observations  in  turn 
led  to  the  startling  discovery  that  whenever  a  cat  is  un- 
happy or  disturbed  in  its  mind  by  anger,  anxiety,  or  dis- 
tress of  any  description,  the  muscular  action  of  the 
stomach  comes  to  an  end. 

To  prove  this  conclusively,  those  who  carried  on  the 
experiments  were  obliged  to  tease  a  well-disposed  cat  a 
little,  even  while  it  was  under  the  rays.  Before  the  teas- 
ing it  purred  gently,  and  the  wave  contractions  swept  on 
with  rhythmic  regularity.  But  when  the  teasing  began, 
and  when  the  cat  began  to  feel  mental  distress  and 
to  show  it,  every  wave  ceased  —  the  stomach  stopped 
its  work  abruptly  and  absolutely.  If,  then,  Dr.  Cannon 
stroked  the  cat,  it  was  at  once  happy;  it  purred,  and 
with  that  purring  began  again  the  squeezing  and  the 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

monotonous,  regular  progress  of  the  waves  along  the 
walls  of  the  stomach. 

Doctors  have  always  known  that  an  unhappy  man 
does  not  digest  his  food  so  well  as  the  same  man  when 
he  is  happy;  but  none  have  known  just  why  this  is  so. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  there  is  some  close  connec- 
tion between  happiness  and  the  power  of  the  stomach  to 
keep  up  the  squeezing  movement  of  its  waves. 

In  view  of  this  discovery,  nothing  could  be  clearer 
than  the  fact  that  if  we  wish  good  work  from  our  own 
stomachs,  we  must  be  neither  worried,  nor  anxious,  nor 
angry,  either  during  the  time  that  we  are  eating  or 
so  long  afterwards  as  food  is  in  our  stomachs  waiting 
to  be  digested.  For  the  simple  sake  of  health,  there- 
fore, the  calm  and  happy  mind  is  greatly  to  be  desired. 


CHAPTER  XX 

FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD,  OR  PERISTALTIC  ACTION 
AND  THE  VILLI 

In  the  same  laboratory  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School, 
and  probably  on  the  identical  cats  already  described,  a 
second  set  of  experiments  was  to  show  what  the  history 
of  chyme  is  after  it  has  gone  through  the  pylorus  into 
the  tube  which  receives  it. 

This  tube,  which  in  man  is  about  twenty  feet  long 
and  about  three  inches  around,  is  folded  back  and  forth 
in  compact  compass  just  below  the  stomach.  It  is  called 
the  small  intestine ;  and  within  it  go  on  some  of  the 
most  marvelous  of  our  involuntary  muscular  contractions. 

The  entire-  scientific  world  was  in  doubt  as  to  pre- 
cisely what  happens  in  the  tube  until,  through  the  X-ray, 
through  the  cats,  and  through  Dr.  Cannon's  continued 
experiments,  the  mystery  became  a  series  of  surprising 
facts  that  could  be  understood  perfectly  well. 

Previously  scientists  had  known  that  chyme,  as  it 
leaves  the  stomach,  is  as  liquid  as  pea  soup ;  that  certain 
juices  are  promptly  poured  upon  it  from  the  liver,  the 
pancreas,  and  the  lining  of  the  tube;  and  that,  in  its 
most  liquid  state,  the  food  passes  through  the  sides  of 

157 


158 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


the  small  intestine  and  is  sent  into  the  blood  supply  of 
the  body. 

All  this  has  been  acknowledged  for  many  years.     It 
has    also   been    stated   distinctly  very  often    that   food 


THE  FOOD  TUBE  AND  ITS  CONTENTS 

A,  the  tube  as  it  contracts  at  regular  intervals ;  B,  the  contents  of  the  tube 
after  the  first  contraction  ;  C,  after  the  second  contraction ;  Z>,  after  the  third 
contraction.  The  line  through  the  middle  of  the  oval  piece  shows  where 
each  was  divided  by  the  tube  as  it  tightened  just  there.  The  arrows  show 
how  the  new  halves  were  alternately  forced  apart,  and  then  driven  together 
again  by  the  repeated  contractions  of  the  tube  itself 

which  leaves  the  stomach  as  chyme  is  to  be  called  chyle 
while  it  makes  its  journey  through  the  long  tube.  It  is 
well  to  remember  these  new  words  and  these  statements, 
for  they  make  the  continued  history  of  digestion  easier 
to  understand. 


FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD  159 

After  the  stomach  had  done  its  work  through  waves 
of  motion  ;  after  gastric  juice  had  softened  and  dissolved 
the  food  by  degrees ;  after  the  pylorus  had  allowed  such 
chyme  as  was  soft  enough  to  pass  through  its  narrow 
portal;  after  bile  from  the  liver  and  pancreatic  juice 
from  the  pancreas  had  turned  this  chyme  to  chyle,  then 
followed  what  proved  to  be  a  most  surprising  discovery. 

At  first  the  X-rays  showed  the  shadow  of  the  chyle  as 
it  lay  along  in  the  various  loops  of  the  folded  tube.  All 
was  inactive  and  quiet  for  a  season.  The  chyle  was 
motionless  and  gave  no  sign  of  progress.  But  slight 
warnings  followed,  —  a  quiver  at  first,  a  mere  agitation. 
Then,  without  further  delay,  activity  began  in  earnest. 
The  stretched-out  length  of  chyle  within  an  entire  loop 
was  suddenly  divided  into  separate  bits.  Each  bit  was  of 
the  same  size  as  all  the  others.  The  tube  indeed,  without 
apparent  cause,  had  tightened  itself  at  regular  intervals. 
Like  a  flash  it  had  divided  its  contents  into  a  series  of  oval 
masses  of  equal  size.  After  this  it  halted  for  a  moment. 
But  within  two  seconds  there  was  another  contraction, 
and  each  bit  was  now  divided  through  the  middle.  Their 
halves  were  compelled  to  unite  with  neighbor  halves  on 
either  side,  and  a  series  of  new  whole  ones  appeared. 

Thus,  back  and  forth  with  every  two  seconds  of  time, 
the  rapid  peristaltic  action  was  continued. 

While  it  lasted  the  small  particles  were  alternately  so 
quickly  divided  and  so  quickly  forced  together  again  that 


160  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Dr.  Cannon  speaks  of  them  as  rushing  together  "  with 
the  rapidity  of  flying  shuttles,  the  little  particles  flitting 
towards  each  other  and  the  larger  segments  shifting  to 
and  fro,  commonly  for  more  than  half  an  hour  without 
cessation." 

In  the  meantime  the  food  within  the  tube  was  ad- 
vanced but  slowly  on  its  way.  It  seemed  to  stay  in 
place  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  be  acted  on  by  the 
squeezing  and  the  relaxing  of  the  tube.  Whether  the 
chyle  was  thin  or  thick,  whether  the  activity  of  the  tube 
was  slower  or  more  swift,  the  squeezing  was  kept  up  so 
unweariedly  that  each  particle  of  chyle  was  affected  by 
it.  All  that  lay  within  the  folds  and  turns  of  the  small 
intestine  was  brought  into  contact  with  the  sides  of  the 
tube  tens  of  thousands  of  times  while  it  was  gradually 
being  absorbed.  That  which  could  not  be  used  went  on 
into  the  large  intestine,  whence  it  would  finally  leave 
the  body. 

To  an  ignorant  person  this  endless  activity  might 
seem  to  be  a  waste  of  energy  and  a  needless  hindrance 
to  the  chyle  as  it  works  its  way  along.  In  point  of  fact, 
however,  rapid  movement  of  chyle  through  the  food 
tube  would  be  a  distinct  disadvantage;  for,  from  the 
time  food  is  swallowed  until  its  journey  is  ended,  the 
one  necessity  is  that  it  should  be  thoroughly  prepared 
to  be  used  by  the  regiments  of  threadlike  villi  which 
line  the  small  intestine.  Chyle,  indeed,  is  improved  by 


FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD 


every  juice  and  every  squeeze  which  it  receives  before 

it  is  absorbed  by  the  villi.    So  true  is  this,  that  food 

which   does    not   get   the    treatment   it    needs    will    be 

rejected  by  each  villus  which  it 

meets  as  it  travels  downward,  and 

will   end  by  forming  part  of  the 

final   waste   of   the    body.    When 

this  occurs  to  food  which  we  have 

taken  the  pains  to  cook  and  chew 

and  swallow,  not  only  does  the 

body  lose  the  strength  it  should 

have  had,  but  the  tube  itself  is  in 

danger  of  becoming  clogged.  And 

here  it  is  that  we  face  again  the  -^ 

problem  of  bo'dy  waste. 

With  all  that  we  eat,  there  is, 
of  course,  much  that  can  never  be 
turned  into  chyle  and  blood.  As 
we  know,  however,  this  is  useful  as 
bulk.  But  nothing  hinders  diges- 
tion much  more,  or  breaks  down 
general  health  much  faster,  than 

,  1   .    1  A  cut  through  the  wall  of  the 

the  results  which  come  from  re-  tube,  showing  some  dark  blood 
taining  waste  in  the  body  after  it         vessels  and  four  villi 
should  be  sent  off.    Even  as  meat  and  vegetables  decay 
in  the  pantry  on  a  warm  day,  so  too  is  it  with  waste  in 
the  body.    Both  in  the  pantry  and  in  the  food  tube  decay 


VlLLI    THAT    FORM   THE 

VELVET  LINING  OF  THE 
FOOD  TUBE 


1 62  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

comes  from  the  action  of  microbes,  and  from  both  places 
decaying  food  should  be  cleared  away  promptly.  The 
habit  of  getting  rid  of  waste  at  a  definite  hour  each 
day,  whether  in  the  morning  or  in  the  afternoon,  is  of 
priceless  value ;  for  that  which  the  villi  reject  is  worse 
than  useless  to  the  body. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  from  first  to  last  each 
mouthful  of  food  which  we  swallow  is  being  put  into 
shape  for  the  villi,  and  that  they  use  it  or  not  without 
the  slightest  reference  to  our  wishes  in  the  matter. 
This  indeed  is  true;  and  the  number  of  these  inde- 
pendent workers  is  counted  by  the  hundred  thousand 
and  the  million.  Each  separate  one  is  a  tiny  finger- 
shaped  structure,  ready  to  absorb  such  chyle  as  shall 
meet  its  demand ;  each  stands  beside  its  neighbor,  help- 
ing to  make  the  soft,  velvety  lining  of  the  twenty  feet 
of  tubing;  each  does  its  independent  work;  yet  all  are 
united  in  drawing  nourishment  from  the  chyle  and  in 
sending  it  on  to  the  body  through  the  blood. 

Just  here  certain  facts  should  be  reviewed  and 
condensed : 

1.  It  is  through  the  lining  of  the  small  intestine 
that  all  substances  must  pass  —  whether  proteid  or 
carbohydrate,  fat,  water,  or  salt — which  are  to  enter 
the  blood  from  the  food  we  swallow. 

2.  The  villi  are,  in  point  of    fact,  the  lining  it- 
self drawn  up  into  slender  tubes  for  the  sake  of 


FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD  163 

increasing  the  surface  against  which  the  chyle  must 
be  pressed. 

3.  Food  passes  through  the  villi  much  as  lymph 
and  plasma  pass  back  and  forth  through  the  sides 
of  the   tubes   that  carry  blood.    This   food    must, 
therefore,  be  very  liquid,  for  the  villi  cannot  absorb 
any  solid  substance. 

4.  The   great  object   of  peristaltic  action    is   to 
wash  the  chyle  up  against  the  villi,  that  they  may 
be  constantly  bathed  with  fresh  supplies  of  it. 

5.  The  mouth  with  its  teeth  and  its  saliva  softens 
food  and  prepares  it  for  swallowing;   the  stomach 
with  its  gastric  juice  softens  it  still  further  and  pre- 
pares it  for  the  pylorus ;  the  food  tube  with  its  con- 
tributions from  the  liver  and  the  pancreas  gives  to 
what  we  eat  its  final  preparation  for  the  villi. 

When  chyle  which  is  squeezed  against  the  villi  is 
such  as  they  can  use,  they  absorb  it  and  send  it  on 
through  other  tubes  into  the  current  of  the  blood. 
When,  however,  this  chyle  is  not  liquid  enough,  or 
not  changed  enough  in  other  ways,  they  refuse  it  as 
absolutely  as  if  it  were  a  poison  to  them. 

For  each  of  us  almost  any  well-cooked  food  can  be 
turned  into  chyle  which  will  pass  through  the  villi ; 
yet  many  a  thin  man  and  many  a  half-nourished  woman 
shows  by  every  sign  of  face  and  figure  that  the  villi  are 
not  getting  what  they  can  accept. 


1 64 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


A 


In  almost  every  such  case  the  explanation  lies  in  some 
mistake  which  the  person  is  making.  Perhaps  he  eats 
so  fast  and  chews  so  little  that  saliva  does  not  have  a 
chance  to  do  its  share  of  work.  Perhaps  he  is  so  busy 

just  before  and  just  after  eating, 
that  blood  is  drawn  away  from 
the  stomach,  leaving  it  less  vig- 
orous than  it  should  be.  Per- 
haps he  worries  so  much,  is 
so  anxious  and  troubled  about 
many  things,  that  gastric  juice 
fails  to  form  and  is  thus  kept 
from  doing  its  part  of  the  work. 
Or  it  may  be  that  the  unfortu- 
nate person  has  overeaten  until 
his  whole  digestive  system  has 
rebelled.  Whatever  the  cause, 
we  know  that  we  are  nourished 
or  starved  according  as  we  have 
been  successful  or  not  in  pre- 
paring chyle  for  its  last  exami- 
nation. If  teeth  and  tongue, 
saliva,  stomach,  gastric  juice, 
bile,  and  pancreatic  juice  have  done  their  work  well,  the 
final  test  will  be  successfully  met  and  passed;  the  villi 
will  accept  the  food,  and  we  shall  be  nourished.  If  the 
test  is  not  met,  we  shall  suffer  from  lack  of  nourishment. 


A  VlLLUS  CUT  DOWN  THROUGH 
THE  MIDDLE 

A,  a  cell  which  manufactures  mu- 
cus ;  B,  the  outside  layer,  which 
absorbs  chyle;  C,  capillaries  to 
supply  each  villus  with  blood; 
Z),  lymphatic 


CHAPTER  XXI 

GLAND  LABORATORIES  FOR  THE  AID  OF  APPETITE 
AND  GENERAL  HEALTH 

Although  they  did  not  understand  what  they  were 
doing,  dogs  no  less  than  cats  have  helped  scientists  who 
have  tried  to  explain  the  laws  of  digestion  for  us.  One 
such  dog  had  a  small  tube  fastened  so  ingeniously  to  his 
mouth  that  the  saliva  ran  into  it  as  fast  as  it  was  formed. 
Professor  Pawlow  watched  and  described  the  tests  one 
after  the  other : 

I  now  offer  such  an  animal  a  piece  of  flesh,  and,  as  you  see,  the  tube 
fills  up  at  once  with  saliva.  I  stop  tempting  the  dog,  hang  on  a  new 
test  tube,  and  give  it  a  few  pieces  of  flesh  to  eat ;  once  more  a  strong 
secretion  of  saliva  results.  A  new  tube  is  now  attached  to  the  funnel, 
the  dog's  mouth  is  opened,  and  a  pinch  of  fine  sand  is  thrown  in  ;  again 
there  is  a  flow  of  saliva.  One  may  employ  a  number  of  substances  in 
this  way,  when  a  similar  effect  is  always  produced. 

Many  different  students  have  established  the  fact  that 
the  mouths  of  dogs  and  of  men  too  are  supplied  with 
three  sets  of  salivary  glands,  and  that  for  dogs  and  men 
alike,  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  following  causes  are 
enough  to  make  saliva  flow: 

1.  A  great  desire  for  some  special  kind  of  food. 

2.  The  chewing  of  the  food. 

165 


1 66 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Prove  these  statements  for  yourself.  Think  of  the  most 
delicious  thing  you  know  anything  about,  and  notice  the 
effect  on  your  mouth.  Then  again,  when  meal  time  comes, 
or  even  now  if  you  can  get  it,  take  a  dry  crust  and  see  what 
you  can  do  with  it  by  the  mere  act  of  chewing.  Use  your 

jaws  vigorously,  and  before 
long  you  will  find  that  you 
have  turned  that  dry  bread 
into  something  as  easy  to 
swallow  as  a  mouthful  of 
mush. 

A  wise  man  with  weak  di- 
gestion often  chooses  toast, 
crackers,  and  crusts  rather 
than  the  most  delicate  cus- 
tards. He  makes  this  choice 
A  SALIVARY  GLAND  because  he  knows  that  dry 

A,  artery;    V,  vein;    N,   nerve;     T,  food    requires    more    chewing 
tongue ;  Z>,  the  tube  through  which  . 

saliva,  manufactured   by   the  gland,  than    food    which    IS    SOlt,    and 

is  emptied  into  the  mouth  ^  for  ^   reasQn   it  wjn   re_ 

ceive  the  most  from  his  salivary  glands.    He  recognizes 

the  value  of  three  facts : 

i.  Saliva  has  the  power  to  turn  starch  — a  carbo- 
hydrate which  cannot  be  used  by  the  villi  —  into 
sugar,  a  carbohydrate  which  can  be  absorbed  into 
the  body.  This  is  a  different  kind  of  sugar  from  that 
which  we  eat  in  food  or  in  candy.  Saliva  also  helps 


GLAND  LABORATORIES 


167 


change  certain  sugars  which  are  hard  to  absorb,  into 
other  sugar  which  is  easy  to  absorb. 

2.  The  more  saliva  we  mix  with  the  carbohydrate 
which  we  eat  in  bread,  potatoes,  and  other  foods,  the 
better  prepared  will  that  carbo- 
hydrate be  for  its  next  course  of 

treatment. 

3.  Saliva  which  we  swallow 
with  our  food  will  continue  to  act 
upon  it  during  the  time  that  it 
stays  quietly  in  the  large,  upper 
end  of   the  stomach,   waiting  to 
go  on. 

Carbohydrate,  however,  does  not 
stand  alone  in  its  need  of  help  from 
the  mouth.  A  baby  is  allowed  to  draw 
no  more  than  the  finest  stream  of  milk 

through  the  mouthpiece   of  his  bottle.    BRANCHES  OF  A  GASTRIC 

Those  who  feed  the  child  seem  to  GLAND  HlGHLY  MAGNI' 

FIED 

know  that   when  milk  reaches  the  ~ 

Gastric  juice  is  here  manu- 

stomach  it  is  curdled  at  once,  and  that  factured  for  the  use  of  the 
it  is  much  better  to  have  it  curdle  in 
small  flakes,  that  can  be  more  easily  digested,  than  in 
one  large  lump  which  will  be  slow  in  digesting.  Young 
babies  who  are  allowed  to  drink  milk  rapidly  from  a  tum- 
bler are  not  likely  to  gain  so  much  nourishment  from  this 
milk  as  they  would  if  it  reached  the  stomach  a  little  at  a 


1 68 


THE   BODY  AT  WORK 


time.  The  same  is  so  true  for  older  people,  too,  that  wise 
doctors  strongly  advise  all  human  beings,  whether  young 
or  old,  to  take  their  milk  in  sips  and  not  in  a  pouring 
stream  which  will  curdle  in  a  mass  as  soon  as  it  reaches 
the  stomach.  Milk  is  swallowed  slowly,  therefore,  not 
because  it  needs  the  help  of  saliva,  but  because  it  is 

more    quickly    digested    when    it 
has  been  curdled  in  flakes. 

After  being  swallowed,  food 
finds  itself  in  the  region  of  the 
stomach  where  there  is  rhythmic 
agitation  from  the  waves  of  con- 
traction. Here  gastric  juice  acts 
upon  it. 

This   colorless  acid    fluid  can 
dissolve  almost  any  proteid  sub- 
Each  spot  shows  the  mouth  of   stance.     A   dog  swallows  an   un- 

a  gastric  gland  through  which 

gastric  juice  flows  into  the   chewed  chunk   of  raw  meat  and 
stomach  the  stomach  digests    it,  not  by 

tearing  it  to  pieces,  but,  in  a  real  way,  by  dissolving 
it  through  the  aid  of  gastric  juice.  Even  the  human 
stomach  easily  digests  unchewed  raw  meat,  but  cooked 
meat  needs  more  chewing  and  more  help  from  the  saliva. 
Moreover,  gastric  juice  is  needed  for  both  cooked  and 
uncooked  meats. 

Numberless   small    gastric    glands   manufacture    this 
liquid.    They  are  packed  snugly  side  by  side  within  the 


A  FRAGMENT  OF  THE  LIN- 
ING OF  THE  STOMACH  MAG- 
NIFIED 20  DIAMETERS 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  169 

lining  of  the  stomach.  There  each  is  supplied  with  its 
separate  tube,  ending  in  its  own  special  outlet ;  and  the 
juice  which  these  hosts  of  glands  manufacture  and  empty 
into  the  stomach  is  of  immense  value  in  continuing  the 
work  of  getting  food  ready  for  the  villi  and  the  blood. 

As  to  what  makes  gastric  juice  flow  fastest,  and  how 
the  supply  may  be  more  or  less  controlled,  Dr.  Pawlow 
learned  many  things  through  his  tests  with  the  dogs. 

The  stomach  has  been  washed  out  half  an  hour  ago,  and  since  then 
not  a  drop  of  gastric  juice  has  escaped.  We  begin  to  get  ready  a  meal  of 
flesh  and  sausage  before  the  animal,  as  if  we  meant  to  feed  it.  We  take 
the  pieces  of  flesh  from  one  place,  chop  them  up,  and  lay  them  in 
another,  passing  them  in  front  of  the  dog's  nose,  and  so  on.  The  animal, 
as  you  see,  manifests  the  liveliest  interest  in  our  proceedings,  stretches 
and  distends  itself,  endeavors  to  get  out  of  its  cage  and  come  to  the 
food,  chatters  its  -teeth  together,  swallows  saliva,  and  so  on.  Precisely 
five  minutes  after  we  began  to  tease  the  animal  in  this  way  the  first 
drops  of  gastric  juice  appear.  The  secretion  grows  stronger  and  stronger 
till  it  flows  in  a  considerable  stream.  The  meaning  of  this  experiment 
is  so  clear  as  to  require  no  explanation  :  the  passionate  longing  for  food, 
and  this  alone,  has  called  forth  under  our  eyes  a  most  intense  activity 
of  the  gastric  glands. 

In  carrying  on  these  experiments  Professor  Pawlow 
made  it  plain  that  dogs  should  not  simply  be  tempted,  but 
should  be  really  fed  with  that  which  has  tempted  them. 

Several  other  facts  were  brought  out  by  the  same  tests. 
Each  was  valuable  from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  and  I 
give  them  in  close  succession: 


170  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

1.  The  more  eagerly  a  dog  desires  food  the  more 
gastric  juice  will  flow. 

2.  Gastric  juice  flows  fastest  and  longest  in  con- 
nection with  food  that  is  enjoyed  the  most ;  for  some 
dogs  this  is  raw  meat,  for  others  cooked  meat,  etc. 
Dogs  have  preferences  as  well  as  men. 

3.  The  mere  fact  that  something  is  in  the  dog's 
stomach  does  not  make  the  juice  flow. 

4.  We  all    understand   that  the  more  the  juice 
flows,  the  better  will  the  food  digest. 

From  these  important  facts,  learned  from  the  study  of 
digestion  in  dogs,  men  have  learned  why  it  is  that  a 
good  appetite  helps  digestion.  Indeed,  those  who  make 
an  application  of  the  facts  to  their  own  lives  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  hunger,  if  it  is  not  too  long  continued, 
is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  life,  and  that  he  who 
eats  only  when  he  has  earned  an  appetite  for  food  is 
surest  to  gain  the  most  nourishment  from  that  which 
he  puts  into  his  stomach,  because  while  it  is  there  it 
will  receive  the  richest  supply  of  gastric  juice. 

But  aside  from  digestion  itself  there  is  the  great  matter 
of  preparing  food  for  the  glands  even  before  we  eat  it. 
The  fact  that  we  cook  our  food  is  an  enormous  help  in 
two  important  directions : 

i.  Cooking  kills  microbes.  Recall  the  typhoid  ex- 
periences of  the  cities  on  the  Merrimac  River,  as 
they  are  described  in  Town  and  City  (Chapter  XV), 


GLAND  LABORATORIES 


171 


and  remember  that  boiling  would  have  killed  the 
disease  microbes  and  made  the  water  safe  to  drink. 
The  same  treatment  will 
kill  other  disease  microbes 
whether  they  are  in  milk  or 
meat  or  food  of  any  kind. 

2.  Cooking  breaks  starch 
cells  open  and  makes  it  pos- 
sible for  saliva  to  get  hold  of 

the    Starch    and    help  turn    it     FROM  THE  SEED  OF' THE  BEAN 
tO    SUgar.  The  larger  granules  are  starch, 

We  know  already  that  unless      the  smaller  ones  are  proteid 
this  starch  is  turned  to  sugar,  every  villus  in  the  long 
tube  will  reject  it,  whereas  if  the  change  has  been  made 
it  is  quite  sure  of  being  accepted. 

In  cooking  oatmeal  and  other 
breakfast  foods  that  hold  a  good 
deal  of  starch,  there  is  often 
danger  that  those  who  do  not 
understand  the  main  object  of 
cooking  will  call  food  ready  to 
eat  even  when  heat  has  not  been 
applied  to  it  long  enough.  An 
hour  of  boiling  for  oatmeal  and 
half  an  hour  for  other  more  finely  powdered  grains  is 
none  too  long  for  best  results.  Nothing  is  gained  and 
much  is  lost  by  eating  cereals  that  are  undercooked. 


A  BIT  OF  POTATO  TO  SHOW 
STARCH  GRANULES 


172  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

This  chapter  teaches  several  important  facts  about 
eating: 

1.  We  should  so  live  and  work  as  to  have  an  appe- 
tite for  our  food. 

2.  We  should  chew  food  thoroughly  and  give  pro- 
longed stimulation  to  salivary  glands,  thus  fitting  the 
food  for  the  stomach  and  for  the  pylorus. 

3.  We  should  enjoy  our  food,  thus  stimulating 
both  salivary  and  gastric  glands. 

4.  Foods    that    contain    starch    should    be    well 
cooked  and  well  chewed. 

Still  another  fact,  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  is  that 
for  our  best  good  we  should  be  free  from  mental  anxiety 
of  every  sort  before  we  eat,  while  we  eat,  and  after  we  eat. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL 

In  case  you  are  thin  enough  to  do  it,  you  might  slip 
your  ringers  up  under  the  edge  of  the  lowest  ribs  on  your 
right  side.  There  you  will  feel  the  smooth  outline  of  the 
largest  gland  in  your  body.  It  weighs  between  three  and 
four  pounds,  and  it  is  to  this  place  that  the  villi  send 
much  of  that  which  they  gather  from  the  chyle.  Indeed, 
it  is  only  after  this  gathered  liquid  food  has  gone  into  the 
liver,  and  after  a  valuable  substance  called  glycogen  has 
been  made  out  of  it,  that  it  is  ready  to  be  used  by  the 
tissues  of  the  body.  The  liver,  then,  is  a  chemical  labora- 
tory where  food  gets  its  final  preparation  for  the  blood. 

More  than  this,  a  large  part  of  the  impure  or  venous 
blood,  on  its  way  back  to  the  heart  from  the  capillaries, 
passes  through  the  same  great  gland.  There  it  is  re- 
lieved of  broken-down  tissue  and  other  waste  which  it 
has  gathered  from  the  body.  From  part  of  this  waste 
the  liver  manufactures  bile.  Here,,  then,  we  have  the 
circle  of  the  occupations  of  the  liver: 

i.  It  changes  liquid  food  which  it  receives  from 

the  villi  into  glycogen,  which  the  body  needs  for 

nourishment. 


174  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

2.  It  takes  certain  wastes  from  the  blood,  makes 
them  over,  and  forwards  them  in  the  blood  to  the  kid- 
neys, to  be  separated  there  and  sent  from  the  body. 

3.  It  manufactures  bile  as  needed.    This  is  sent 
to  the  small  intestine  where  it  helps  digestion  and 
afterwards   escapes  with    the   other   wastes  of   the 
food  tube. 

Clearly  enough,  no  man  who  knows  these  facts  and 
who  wishes  to  make  sure  of  his  health  will  care  to 
ignore  the  welfare  of  his  liver  or  to  act  as  if  he  were 
ignorant  of  the  laws  which  control  it.  Nevertheless, 
many  of  the  discoveries  about  these  laws  are  so  recent 
that  even  well-informed  people  have  sometimes  failed 
to  hear  about  them. 

This  is  true  of  my  neighbor,  who  complained  about 
his  liver  the  other  day.  He  said  the  doctor  advised  him 
to  eat  less,  to  exercise  more,  and  to  give  up  his  beer  un- 
til he  was  in  good  shape  again.  He  himself  protested, 
however.  He  said :  "  What  I  really  need  is  strength,  you 
know,  and  how  can  I  get  strong  by  eating  less  ?  As  for 
beer,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  it  is  the  one  thing  that  really 
helps  me.  Can't  I  judge  by  my  own  feelings?"  The 
doctor  said  he  could  n't,  and  the  doctor  was  right. 
Follow  the  argument  closely. 

Those  of  us  who  have  ever  seen  a  piece  of  raw  liver 
know  how  extraordinarily  bloody  it  is.  We  also  know 
that  it  is  bloody  not  by  accident  on  a  particular  day,  but 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL    175 

that  any  piece  of  liver,  on  any  day  of  the  year,  is  deluged 
with  its  own  blood.  This  is  inevitable  because  the  liver 
is  always  provided  with  an  enormous  number  of  small 
blood  vessels,  each  one  of  which  is  in  active  service. 

When,  therefore,  the  doctor  gave  my  neighbor  that 
advice  about  beer,  he  was  acting  in  line  with  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  effect  of  alcohol  on  blood  vessels  in  general. 
He  knew,  what  we  also  know,  that  wherever  there  is  an 
unusual  supply  of  capillaries  and  blood-carrying  tubes  of 
all  sizes,  there  will  alcohol  do  its  paralyzing  work.  He 
knew  that  when  blood  vessels  in  the  liver  are  somewhat 
paralyzed  and  enlarged  beyond  their  usual  size,  the  liver 
itself  is  sure  to  suffer  in  a  serious  way. 

When  a  doctor  examines  liver  after  liver  as  he  finds 
them  in  the  hospital  and  in  the  dissecting  room,  he 
counts  the  ignorance  of  the  unfortunate  men  no  laugh- 
ing matter.  "  A  drunkard's  liver  again,"  he  will  say  as 
he  opens  up  the  telltale  gland.  "  No  wonder  the  man 
died.  It's  a  wonder  he  lived  as  long  as  he  did  with  a 
liver  of  this  sort  to  purify  his  blood  supply  for  him." 
That  which  the  doctor  finds  is  indeed  a  grievous  sight; 
for  a  liver  in  the  grip  of  alcohol  is  often  swollen  to 
double  its  natural  size.  It  has  been  changed  from  a 
healthy,  compact  mass  of  energetic  cells  and  tubes  to 
an  inactive  mass  of  distended  tubes  and  of  cells  heavily 
loaded  with  fat.  In  other  cases  the  substance  of  the 
gland  shrivels  through  the  effect  of  alcohol. 


176  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

After  a  man's  liver  reaches  the  point  where  it  can  do 
no  more  work  for  him,  the  man  dies  and  we  pity  him. 
But  there  are  multitudes  of  other  people  who  drink  less 
and  suffer  quite  as  truly.  By  their  ignorance  of  the 


As  THE  LIVER  LOOKS  WHEN  DOING  GOOD  WORK 
(After  Horsley) 

laws  of  health,  and  by  their  free  choice,  they  are  setting 
a  limit  to  the  work  which  the  liver  may  do  for  them. 
In  all  probability,  by  their  regular  use  of  alcohol  they 
are  slowly  but  steadily  securing  for  themselves  a  gland 
which  grows  gradually  more  inactive  and  inefficient, — 
a  gland  which,  by  its  inactivity,  is  quietly  preparing 
them  more  easily  to  fall  a  prey  to  diseases,  or  to  die 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL    177 

earlier  than  they  might  have  died.  The  eleventh  chapter 
of  Town  and  City  shows  what  insurance  companies  have 
found  to  be  the  different  chances  of  life  for  those  who  use 
alcohol  as  a  drink  and  for  those  who  do  not' so  use  it. 


A  DRUNKARD'S  LIVER  RUINED  BY  ALCOHOL 

From  its  appearance  it  is  sometimes  called  hob-nailed 

(After  Horsley) 

Two  other  glands  are  also  greatly  affected  by  alcohol. 
These  are  the  kidneys.  They  lie  on  each  side  of  the 
lower  part  of  the  back,  and  their  structure  is  a  marvel- 
ous arrangement  of  closely  packed  microscopic  tubes 
which  are  netted  about  by  vast  numbers  of  capillaries. 


OF  THE 

(    UNIVERSITY 

OF 


78 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


The  special  work  of  the  kidneys  is  to  ricl  the  body  of 
many  kinds  of  waste.  This  brings  us  round  to  the 
subject  of  food  again,  and  calls  our  attention  to  two 
important  focts  about  the  disposal  of  waste  which  the 

blood  gathers  up: 

1.  If  we  have  eaten  more 
carbohydrate  than  we  need, 
the  surplus  is  stored  up  as 
fat  and  glycogen,  while  the 
waste    takes    the   shape  of 
water,  and  of  carbon  dioxid 
gas  which   leaves  the  body 
through  the  lungs. 

2.  If   we    eat  more   meat 
than  we  need,  the  surplus  is 
worked  over  in  the  liver  and 
sent  off  as   waste   through 
the  kidneys.    Moreover,  if 
the  kidneys  are  overtaxed  in 
their  work,  they  fail  to  clear 
the  blood  entirely  of  its  pro- 
teid  waste.    This  waste  may 

then  settle  in  different  parts  of  the  body  and  result 

in  gout,  rheumatism,  and  kindred  ills. 

Anything,  therefore,  that  interferes  with  the  prompt, 

healthy  action  of  the  kidneys  is  a  misfortune  to  us.    So 

true  is  this  that  many  a  man  with  kidney  trouble  has 


THE   KIDNEYS  AND  THE  BAG 

WHICH    THEY    SUPPLY    WITH 

WASTE  WATER 

A,    artery ;    B,   vein ;    C,    tube 

through    which     water    leaves 

the  kidney 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL    179 

been  refused  by  insurance  companies  when  he  wished 
to  get  his  life  insured.  Such  business  houses  know  that 
a  person  who  has  upset  the  power  of  his  kidneys  is  a 
"  poor  risk."  Because  of  this,  intelligent  men  listen  in- 
tently when  scientists  tell  them  that 
alcohol  has  a  direct  effect  on  the 
kidneys,  and  that  the  kidneys  are 
specially  affected  by  weak  alcoholic 
drinks  taken  in  large  quantities.  It 
is  indeed  a  fact  recognized  by  all 
doctors,  that  those  who  use  beer 
regularly,  even  though  they  drink 
it  moderately,  are  repeatedly  found 
to  have  trouble  with  their  kidneys. 
Not  only  does  alcohol  make  the 
capillaries  of  liver  and  kidneys  in- 
efficient, but  it  benumbs  the  work- 
Notice  the  clusters  of  slender 
ing  pOWer  Of  each  gland.  It  robs  tubes;  each  separate  one 

them  of  their  ability  to  be  thorough-  mi^ht  be  called  a  l"*<™*»y 
going,  wide-awake  chemists.  For  this  reason  it  is  as  much 
of  a  calamity  for  these  glands  to  receive  alcohol  as  it 
would  be  for  human  chemists  to  be  made  stupid  by  the 
same  alcohol  during  the  time  that  they  are  carrying  on 
important  investigations  in  a  modern  laboratory. 


A  CUT  THROUGH  THE 
KIDNEY 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING,  OR  ABOVE  AND  BELOW 
THE  DIAPHRAGM 

If  you  are  interested  in  such  things,  study  the  latest 
fashion  plates  for  a  few  moments ;  or,  if  you  see  fashion- 
plate  types  of  women  on  the  street  this  afternoon,  give 
special  attention  to  the  size  of  their  waists  as  compared 
with  the  size  of  the  rest  of  the  body.  If  the  difference 
seems  to  you  too  great  for  real  beauty,  try  to  decide 
what  these  women,  in  their  ignorance,  have  done  to 
themselves. 

I  see  one  such  woman  passing  at  the  present  moment. 
Her  shoulders  are  broad,  her  hips  are  large,  her  waist 
looks  like  a  contracted  isthmus  which  is  doing  its  best 
to  hold  two  wide-spreading  peninsulas  together.  Both 
peninsulas  are  awkward  in  their  movements  because 
their  proper  relation  to  the  waist  has  been  lost.  They 
rock  from  side  to  side,  and  the  sight  of  the  progress  of 
the  woman  is  not  attractive. 

But  her  outward  appearance  is  the  smallest  part  of 
the  misfortune  of  her  condition.  She  little  suspects  that 
others  know  more  about  her  than  she  would  dare  ac- 
knowledge. Nevertheless,  the  facts  are  clear  to  those  of 

1 80 


HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING 


181 


us  who  understand  certain  points  about  the  structure 
of  the  human  machine,  and  we  acknowledge  them. 

We  know  that  this  woman  has  something  hard  and 
firm  about  the  middle,  soft  part 
of  her  body,  and  that  she  has 
drawn  this  bandage  up  with  such 
vigor  that,  at  this  moment,  folds 
of  crumpled  flesh  lie  in  creases 
just  underneath  the  whalebones 
and  the  steel.  We  know  that  she 
is  most  uncomfortable  from  the 
pressure,  but  that  she  endures  it 
with  a  smiling  face  because  she 
thinks  she  has  made  herself  more 
slender  and  beautiful  to  look  upon. 
Her  ignorance  goes  even  further. 
It  makes  her  willing  to  do  more 
than  simply  rob  herself  of  comfort. 

Follow  her  condition  down 
through  those  folded  rolls  of  flesh 
and  skin.  Imagine  that  some  new 
kind  of  X-ray  is  ready  to  reveal  a 
few  miserable  secrets,  and  count 
them  up  for  yourself: 

i.  You  will  find  yourself  studying  a  liver,  which 
is  crowded  into  such  small  compass  that  its  capilla- 
ries and  tiny  tubes  are  folded  and  pressed  upon 


•FOR  THE  SAKE  OF  LOOKS 
SHE  LACES  SLIGHTLY 


182 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


each  other  until  they  labor  under  enormous  disad- 
vantage. This  liver  can  neither  do  good  work  in 
preparing  glycogen  from  the  liquid  food  which  it 
has  received,  nor  thoroughly  purify  venous  blood 
of  its  waste,  nor  manufacture  other  things  from  this 

waste.  No  wonder, 
then,  that  the  waste, 
kept  in  the  system, 
is  gradually  giving  to 
this  particular  woman 
a  dull  complexion. 
Few  things  more 
quickly  rob  a  face  of 
its  bright  pink  and 
white  than  an  inac- 
tive liver.  By.  study- 
ing faces  and  waists 
you  will  have  no 

RIBS  OF  A  YOUNG  WOMAN  WHO  DIED     trouble   in  Coming  to 
AT  THE  AGE  OF  TWENTY-THREE  .  ••  •>  .  i 

the  conclusion  that 

(After  Tracy)  t ,  ,          , 

those  who  lace  are 

apt  to  be  the  ones  who  paint  and  powder  the 
most.  Evidently  they  try  to  conceal  the  fact  that 
the  liver  is  not  doing  full  work  and  that  the  com- 
plexion needs  repairs. 

2.  Under  the  bandage  the  stomach  endures  the 
same   pressure  as  the  liver.    It   has  less  space  in 


HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING  183 

which  to  carry  on  its  operations.  It  is  consequently 
so  hampered  and  hindered  that  indigestion  often 
follows,  and  nothing  is  more  fatal  to  a  beautiful 
complexion  than  the  results  of  this  condition. 

3.  The  upper  long  folds  of  the  small  intestine 
are  pressed  downwards.  They  too  become  inactive ; 
food  moves  slowly 
through  them.  The 
disadvantage  in  this 
event  is  that  the  longer 
the  food  tarries  on  its 
way,  the  more  proba- 
bility is  there  that  it 
will  decay  and  produce 
gas.  Such  gas  is  im- 
mensely uncomfortable 
because  it  stretches  the 
walls  of  stomach  and 
tube  alike,  and  we  feel 

,1       .  ,  .  THE  SHAPE  THEY  SHOULD  HAVE  HAD 

the  stretching. 

Lacing  does  not  always  explain  the  size  of  the  abdo- 
men, for  fat  often  settles  there  as  persons  grow  older. 
But  when  a  woman  has  persistently  crowded  her  in- 
testines downwards,  they  finally  stay  out  of  place  with- 
out the  crowding.  The  walls  of  her  abdomen  are  relaxed 
and  flabby  because  they  have  not  been  able  to  get  exer- 
cise. Everything  which  they  inclose  and  which  they 


184 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


should  hold  snugly  and  firmly  in  place  is  left  sagging 
downwards.  Each  organ  must  therefore  carry  on  its  busi- 
ness as  best  it  can  under  most  unfavorable  conditions. 

This  we  find  to  be 
the  state  of  affairs 
below  the  diaphragm. 
But  what  about  the 
fate  of  the  diaphragm 
itself  ?  Give  attention 
for  a  moment  to  what 
it  is  and  to  the  work 
it  does  for  us. 

In  a  way  it  may  be 
hard  to  think  of  our- 
selves as  a  double- 
story  set  of  apart- 
ments, but  such  we 
are.  For,  stretching 
across  us  from  side  to 
side,  a  little  above  the 
waist  line,  is  a  strong, 
broad,  elastic  parti- 
tion of  muscle  called  the  diaphragm.  Below  it  lie  liver, 
stomach,  intestines,  and  other  important  organs.  Above 
it  are  the  heart  and  lungs  with  the  large  and  small 
tubes  which  belong  to  them.  Through  the  diaphragm 
go  several  good-sized  tubes,  a  large  artery,  a  large 


INSIDE  ORGANS  THAT  WERE  SQUEEZED 
WHEN  SHE  LACED 


HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING  185 

vein,  and  the  tube  which  carries  food  from  the  mouth 
to  the  stomach. 

Above  the  diaphragm,  then,  we  find  the  organs  of  res- 
piration and  circulation,  while  below  it  lie  the  organs  of 
digestion  and  the  great  gland,  —  the  liver.  Above  the 
diaphragm  blood  is  ridding  itself  of  carbon  dioxid ;  be- 
low the  diaphragm  blood  is  getting  supplies  of  nourish- 
ment to  carry  to  the  tissues  of  the  entire  body. 

But  what  active  share  does  the  diaphragm  take  in  all 
this  ?  Find  out  for  yourself.  Draw  a  deep  breath.  You 
may  perhaps  think  that  you  are  simply  expanding  your 
chest  to  the  utmost.  The  truth,  however,  is  that  the 
drawing  of  your  breath  means  that  you  are  not  only 
raising  your  ribs,  but  that  you  are  also  contracting  your 
diaphragm  from  every  side.  A  healthy  person  in  hygienic 
clothing  can  prove  it  in  this  way:  lay  your  hand  on 
your  chest,  and  take  pains  that  the  chest  shall  make 
absolutely  no  movement.  You  will  find  that  you  can 
breathe  quite  well  by  letting  the  abdomen  expand  and 
contract,  without  the  least  motion  of  the  ribs.  By  doing 
so  you  have  flattened  down  the  dome  shape  which  it 
usually  has.  When  you  can  contract  it  no  further,  you 
know  that  your  lungs  cannot  be  forced  to  hold  more 
air.  This  we  call  forced  breathing.  Through  it  you  have 
forced  your  lungs  to  their  full  size. 

But  natural,  daily  breathing  is  no  less  dependent  on 
the  diaphragm.  This  muscle  is  indeed  the  largest  and 


1 86  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

the  strongest  breathing  muscle  we  have.  When  it  con- 
tracts, air  rushes  into  the  lungs,  and  the  upper  story  of 
the  body  grows  larger,  while  all  that  lies  in  the  lower 
story  is  exercised  by  the  pressure  of  the  diaphragm 
down  upon  it.  When  again  the  diaphragm  relaxes,  the 
pressure  is  lifted,  air  is  squeezed  out  of  the  lungs,  and 
the  upper  cavity  is  smaller  again. 

Liver  and  stomach  also  receive  decided  help  from 
this  rhythmic  exercise,  which  continues  throughout  the 
days  and  the  years  of  our  lives.  And  the  ignorant  lady 
who  laces,  implies  that  she  is  ignorant  by  her  willing- 
ness to  interfere  with  the  healthful,  regular  action  of  her 
tireless  diaphragm.  By  putting  pressure  on  her  lowest 
ribs  and  also  on  the  organs  contained  both  in  her  chest 
and  in  her  abdomen,  she  limits  the  work  which  her  dia- 
phragm can  do  not  only  for  her  lungs  but  also  for  her 
liver  and  stomach  and  small  intestine.  Moreover,  she 
keeps  these  organs  under  such  constant  outside  pres- 
sure that  they  have  no  chance  for  the  relaxation  which 
is  also  of  importance  to  them. 

Place  your  hands  on  opposite  sides  of  your  body; 
crowd  in  your  ribs  and  come  to  your  own  conclusions 
as  to  what  you  have  done  to  your  lungs  and  to  your 
heart.  You  cannot  conceal  the  fact  that  you  have 
crowded  multitudes  of  lung  cells  out  of  service,  thus 
robbing  the  blood  of  oxygen,  and  that  your  heart  is 
pressed  against  by  the  surrounding  lungs. 


THE  DIAPHRAGM  WHEN  IT  is  RELAXED 
The  organs  from  above  it  and  below  it  have  been  removed 

187 


i88 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


When  the  most  important  servants  of  the  body  are 
left  to  the  power  of  the  foolish  hands  of  a  woman  who 
is  ignorant  about  her  own  structure,  and  when  these 
hands  give  cruel  treatment  to  servants  which  do  her 
hardest  work  for  her,  is  it  strange  that  rebellion  follows  ? 


EXERCISES  WHICH  MAY  BE  TAKEN  TO  STRENGTHEN  THE  MUSCLES 
OF  THE  ABDOMINAL  WALL 

(After  Schmidt) 

Is  it  surprising  that  "  liver  trouble,"  and  gas,  and  head- 
ache, and  the  blues,  and  unhappiness,  and  nervousness 
fill  the  woman  with  lamentation? 

In  the  face  of   the  fashion  plates  and    the  laced-up 
ladies,    it    is    a   curious   fact    that    hardly   ever   does   a 


HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING  189 

woman  or  a  girl  acknowledge  that  her  clothes  are  too 
snug  for  comfort  or  for  health.  She  generally  assures 
us  that  they  are  really  loose. 

We  ourselves,  may  of  course,  be  exceptions ;  but  we 
must  remember  that  even  slight  pressure  long  continued 
is  harmful. 

Test  yourself.  Stand  with  your  back  to  the  wall,  with 
head,  heels,  and  elbows  touching  it.  Draw  a  long,  deep 
breath.  Can  you  do  this  without  feeling  that  bands, 
strings,  buttons,  or  hooks  are  being  pulled  at  rather 
vigorously  ?  If,  at  the  same  time,  you  have  no  weight 
of  clothes  dragging  down  on  your  abdomen,  you  may 
count  yourself  as  well  tested.  You  have  passed  the  ex- 
amination and  may  congratulate  yourself  that  you  are 
not  preparing  your  body  for  defeat  later  in  life. 

If,  however,  you  feel  the  pressure  of  something  that 
binds  you,  you  need  to  make  a  change  somewhere. 
Bands  and  belts  should  always  be  large  enough  to  allow 
us  to  do  our  ordinary  breathing  without  feeling  that  we 
are  hampered  by  our  clothing.  When  we  take  unusual 
exercise  we  breathe  deeper,  expanding  our  lungs  more, 
and  our  garments  should  be  proportionately  loose. 

It  is  unwise  both  for  growing  girls  and  for  grown 
women  to  hold  their  skirts  in  place  by  strings  drawn 
tight  about  the  waist.  A  yoke  to  the  skirt  is  better,  or 
skirts  may  be  carried  by  straps  or  by  waists  that  hang 
from  the  shoulders.  In  other  words,  weight  should  not 


190  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

be  allowed  to  drag  down  on  the  abdomen.  Learn  to 
protect  the  strength  and  the  shape  of  your  abdominal 
wall  by  putting  it  under  such  conditions  as  will  leave  it 
firm  and  useful  when  you  are  grown.  Remember  that 
the  better  you  can  breathe,  and  the  more  freely  gland 
laboratories  are  allowed  to  do  their  work,  the  better  able 
will  you  be  to  endure  the  strain  of  life  and  to  resist 
disease  of  every  sort. 

Even  now,  multitudes  of  well-informed  women  dress 
according  to  their  knowledge  of  these  facts;  and  the 
same  knowledge  is  spreading  so  fast  among  the  young, 
that,  from  the  signs  of  the  times,  it  looks  as  if  small, 
deformed  waists  would  soon  be  as  unfashionable  as  are 
the  small,  deformed  feet  of  a  Chinese  lady. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS 

Okushiri  is  an  island  in  the  beautiful  sea  of  Japan. 
It  is  about  fourteen  miles  long,  and  lies  not  far  from 
the  coast  of  the  large  island  of  Nippon. 

When  the  events  now  to  be  recorded  took  place,  the 
population  of  Okushiri  numbered  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty.  A  mere  handful  of.  poor  fishermen  they 
seemed  to  be,  but  from  their  obscurity  and  their  poverty 
they  raised  themselves  into  fame  and  prosperity. 

In  1884  these  people  were  distributed  in  four  villages. 
They  lived  in  houses  made  of  grass,  supported  them- 
selves by  fishing,  had  but  four  roads  and  but  one  school. 
Worst  of  all,  a  famine  threatened,  for  the  price  of  food 
was  high,  and  their  own  catch  of  herring  had  been  so 
small  that  year  that  they  had  little  money  with  which  to 
buy  other  kinds  of  food. 

One  thing,  however,  they  had  to  comfort  them  in 
their  poverty.  They  speak  of  it  themselves :  "  The  people 
have  no  other  pleasure  for  body  and  mind  than  in  the 
use  of  sake.1  Nine  out  of  ten  of  us  like  the  liquid,  and 
what  we  annually  spend  for  the  same  is  not  small." 

1  The  national  alcoholic  drink. 
191 


192  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

To  us  who  read  about  it,  the  amount  of  sake  which 
they  used  seems  very  large,  for  we  are  told  that  during 
the  single  year  of  1884  the  inhabitants  of  Okushiri 
imported  eight  hundred  and  eighty  casks  of  sake  for 
their  own  use,  and  had  besides  a  goodly  stock  of  brandy 
and  other  drinks.  They  intended  to  be  well  provided 
with  this  one  thing  which  consoled  them  in  their  misery 
and  helped  them  to  forget  their  hunger. 

Happily,  however,  there  are  as  wise  men  in  Japan  as  in 
other  lands.  And,  most  happily  for  the  fishermen,  one 
of  these  wise  men  was  governor  of  the  district  of  Japan 
to  which  Okushiri  belongs.  When,  therefore,  this  gov- 
ernor made  his  regular  visit  to  the  island  in  1884  and 
saw  the  poverty  of  the  people,  saw  that  famine  threat- 
ened them  for  the  winter,  and  also  saw  how  well  pre- 
pared they  were  to  comfort  themselves  with  their  sake, 
their  brandy,  and  their  other  drinks,  he  gave  the  sub- 
ject close  attention. 

Furthermore,  he  made  an  estimate  of  the  size  of  their 
drink  bill  for  the  year,  and  his  figures  proved  that  they 
were  spending  money,  out  of  all  proportion  to  what 
they  earned,  on  sake  which  did  not  nourish  them, 
when  they  were  in  sad  need  of  the  same  money  for 
food  which  did  nourish  them. 

Being  a  clear-headed  man,  he  had  no  doubt  as  to 
what  should  be  done,  and  he  urged  the  people  to  turn 
the  tables  immediately.  He  begged  them  to  provide  for 


FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS       193 

the  future  by  saving  what  they  were  really  wasting  in 
the  present. 

Evidently  these  fisher  folk  had  logical  minds,  for 
they  gave  heed  to  his  counsel.  They  acknowledged 
that  their  debtors  could  not  pay  them  what  they  owed, 
that  some  of  their  own  number  would  have  to  depend 
on  the  government  for  food,  and  that  the  condition  re- 
quired an  immediate,  desperate  remedy.  Those  who 
were  most  deeply  impressed  by  the  situation  drew  up 
a  formal  statement  in  which  they  said : 

We  are  in  misery,  and  to  save  ourselves  from  the  wretched  state  of 
things,  we  must  have  recourse  to  some  extraordinary  means.  Frugality 
is  to  be  resorted  to,  and  vanity  of  all  sorts  must  be  set  aside.  We,  there- 
fore, before  all  others,  will  abstain  from  the  use  of  what  we  relish  more 
than  all  other  things  —  sake  —  and  thus  close  the  way  of  importation 
of  the  liquid  into  this  island.  The  money  we  should  spend  for  it  will  be 
spent  for  rice  and  other  grains,  and  thus  we  will  provide  for  our  future 
wants  on  the  one  hand,  and  will  increase  our  capital  in  fishery  on  the  other. 

In  carrying  out  this  determination,  those  who  origi- 
nated the  plan  drew  up  a  formal  document  in  order  that 
they  "  might  secure,"  as  they  said,  "  the  prosperity  of  the 
island."  They  called  upon  all  those  "  who  like  to  share 
in  our  privation  for  the  good  of  the  public  and  the 
future  "  to  "  come  speedily  and  sign  the  contract."  This 
was  in  July,  1884. 

The  document  which  the  islanders  were  asked  to 
sign  held  ten  different  statements,  which  were  put  in 


194  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

the  form  of  a  contract.  Those  who  signed  this  contract 
pledged  themselves  neither  to  buy  nor  to  sell  alcoholic 
liquor  of  any  sort  for  five  years,  and  to  give  no  aid  to 
such  inhabitants  of  Okushiri  as  persisted  in  the  buying 
or  the  selling  of  it.  For  any  breaking  of  the  contract 
there  was  a  heavy  fine,  and  all  such  fines  were  to  be 
spent  in  buying  rice,  which  should  then  be  hoarded  in  a 
common  granary.  Those  who  bought  alcohol  were  to  be 
fined  half  as  much  as  those  who  sold  it.  All  immigrants 
from  other  provinces  were  to  be  taught  promptly  about 
the  prohibition  plans  of  the  island,  and  no  one  was 
to  be  admitted  who  did  not  understand  the  situation 
thoroughly.  Such  persons  as  bought  alcoholic  liquor  in 
any  form  from  passing  ships  or  boats  were  to  be  taxed 
to  the  full  extent  of  the  law. 

Last  of  all,  the  following  statement  was  distinctly 
made: 

This  contract  is  to  be  in  force  for  five  years  ;  and  when  the  provision 
for  years  of  scarcity  is  fully  made  and  each  and  everybody  is  able  to 
lead  an  independent  life,  proper  changes  shall  be  made  upon  further 
deliberation. 

One  hundred  and  seventeen  Okushiri  islanders  signed 
the  contract.  It  was  rigidly  enforced  for  five  years,  and 
at  the  end  of  this  time  still  other  records  show  what  the 
results  were. 

It  was  now  1890.  Not  a  drunkard  was  left  on  the 
island.  Some  had  been  reformed  by  giving  up  the 


FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS       195 

drinking  habit.  Others  who  were  too  weak  to  change 
had  gone  elsewhere  to  live.  Those  who  stayed  had  pros- 
pered greatly,  while  their  numbers  had  increased  five- 
fold. The  money  which  they  had  put  into  the  fishing 
industry  had  multiplied  itself  by  ten.  They  had  even 
started  a  new  line  of  work,  for  now  they  raised  their  own 
hemp  and  made  their  own  fish  nets.  Their  houses  were 
larger  and  better  made,  their  schools  had  improved  in 
quality  and  in  numbers,  additional  roads  had  been  con- 
structed, and  there  was  less  crime.  From  being  spoken 
of  with  pity  by  neighboring  islands,  as  was  previously 
the  case,  these  fishermen  were  now  referred  to  as  "  the 
prosperous  people  of  Okushiri." 

The  five  years  had  certainly  brought  good  results. 
Okushiri  islanders  were  no  longer  a  poor  and  miser- 
able people.  Famine  did  not  threaten  them  now.  Was 
it  necessary,  then,  to  keep  sake  and  brandy  out  of  the 
island  any  longer?  This  was  the  great  question  of  the 
day  for  Okushiri  in  1890.  They  discussed  it  thoroughly 
and  answered  it  by  deciding  that  for  still  another  stretch 
of  five  years  they  would  travel  by  the  road  which  had  led 
them  to  such  happy  results.  According  to  last  reports 
they  were  still  going  without  alcohol  and  were  still 
prospering. 

In  other  lands  those  who  are  interested  in  the  ques- 
tion of  profit  and  loss  have  asked  themselves  whether  or 
not  it  is  a  good  investment  to  put  money  into  daily 


196  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

drinks  of  beer.  They  have  looked  into  the  matter  quite 
as  thoroughly  as  did  the  governor  of  Okushiri,  and  have 
come  upon  a  striking  set  of  facts.  By  making  careful 
inquiry  about  prevailing  prices  in  America  in  1908,  they 
found  that  if  a  person  should  drink  three  glasses  of  beer 
a  day  during  one  year,  he  would  spend,  on  this  drink 
alone,  enough  to  buy  the  following  articles.  They  are 
placed  one  under  the  other,  that  they  may  be  read  easily. 

i  barrel  of  flour 
50  pounds  of  sugar 
20  pounds  of  cornstarch 
10  pounds  of  macaroni 
10  quarts  of  beans 

4  twelve-pound  hams 

i  bushel  sweet  potatoes 
3  bushels  Irish  potatoes 
10  pounds  of  coffee 
i  o  pounds  of  raisins 
i  o  pounds  of  rice 
20  pounds  of  crackers 
100  bars  of  soap 

3  twelve-pound  turkeys 

5  quarts  of  cranberries 
10  bunches  of  celery 
10  pounds  of  prunes 

4  dozen  oranges 

i  o  pounds  of  mixed  nuts 
3  tons  of  coal  at  five  dollars  a  ton 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THAT   WHICH   DESTROYS,  AND   HOW   MEN   SAVE 
THEMSELVES 

On  the  eighteenth  of  December,  1902,  in  the  city  of 
Paris,  France,  a  report  was  made  by  a  committee  of  the 
government.  The  state  officials  considered  this  report  so 
valuable  that  they  ordered  copies  of  it  printed  as  posters 
in  large  black  letters  on  a  white  background.  In  France 
none  but  state  officials  are  allowed  to  print  posters  thus 
in  black  and  white.  When  such  appear,  therefore,  they 
are  read,  because  they  come  from  the  government. 

These  posters  were  placarded  here  and  there  on  the 
important  buildings  of  the  city.  They  were  put  on  the 
walls  and  in  the  corridors  of  hospitals,  on  the  streets,  in 
the  post  offices,  and  even  on  the  outside  wall  of  the  great 
Hotel  de  Ville,  where  the  business  of  the  city  is  carried  on. 

A  few  extracts  will  show  what  it  was  that  the  govern- 
ment wished  to  proclaim  in  this  public  way. 

DRAFTED    BY 

PROFESSOR  DEBOVE,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine, 
DR.  FAISANS,  Physician  to  the  Hotel  Dieu. 

Alcoholism  is  chronic  poisoning  resulting  from  the  habitual  use  of 
alcohol,  even  when  this  is  not  taken  in  amounts  sufficient  to  produce 

197 


198  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

drunkenness.  Alcohol  is  useful  to  nobody,  it  is  harmful  to  all.  It  leads, 
at  the  very  least,  to  the  hospital,  for  alcoholism  causes  a  great  variety 
of  diseases,  many  of  them  most  deadly.  It  is  one  of  the  most  frequent 
causes  of  consumption.  Typhoid  fever,  pneumonia,  or  erysipelas,  which 
would  be  mild  in  a  sober  individual,  will  rapidly  kill  the  alcoholic. 
Alcoholism  is  one  of  the  most  frightful  scourges,  whether  it  be  regarded 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  health  of  the  individual,  of  the  existence 
of  the  family,  or  of  the  future  of  the  country. 

Paris  does  not  stand  alone  in  this  protest  against  alco- 
hol. Through  the  recent  revelations  of  science  every 
country  is  roused  at  last.  The  most  ambitious  nations 
recognize  the  fact  that  they  themselves  are  strong  or 
weak  in  proportion  as  their  individual  citizens  have 
strong  or  weak  bodies. 

This,  then,  explains  the  activity  against  alcohol  which 
appears  in  many  lands.  Anti-alcohol  leagues  and  socie- 
ties comprise  tens  of  thousands  of  men  and  women 
who  know  that  alcohol  is  more  dangerous  than  fire  as 
a  plaything.  "  Let  a  man  know  the  facts,"  they  say, 
"and  if  he  is  wise  he  will  no  more  risk  his  life  by  drink- 
ing alcohol  than  by  jumping  into  a  burning  building." 
These  societies,  therefore,  do  their  work  by  printing 
and  distributing  facts  about  the  effects  of  alcohol  on 
body,  mind,  and  character.  And  the  material  which 
they  have  gathered  covers  thousands  of  pages. 

In  Germany  alone,  previous  to  1908,  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-one  books  were  printed  which  discussed 


THAT  WHICH  DESTROYS  199 

the  question  of  alcohol.  Thirty-seven  newspapers,  maga- 
zines, and  annuals  devoted  themselves  to  the  same  sub- 
ject ;  and  hundreds  of  articles  about  alcohol  were  printed 
in  the  important  magazines  of  that  country. 

The  prominent  men  in  this  great  German  movement 
are  the  professors  of  physiology  in  German  universities. 
Indeed,  the  matter  has  gone  so  far  in  Germany  that,  in 
1907  one  hundred  leading  professors  in  the  leading  uni- 
versities, signed  a  declaration  which  included  the  follow- 
ing statements : 

All  the  prevalent  ideas  in  regard  to  the  invigorating  and  otherwise 
supposedly  beneficial  properties  of  alcohol  in  small  doses  have  been 
proved  erroneous  by  scientific  research.  Moderate  drinking  has  a 
tendency  to  make  the  human  body  more  liable  to  disease  and  to 
shorten  life. 

The  Imperial  Health  Office  in  Berlin  is  sending  out 
arguments  against  using  alcohol  as  a  drink;  and  the 
brother-in-law  of  the  emperor,  Count  Douglas,  is  one  of 
the  most  earnest  workers  in  the  anti-alcohol  campaign. 
Many  of  these  men  in  Germany  advocate  going  with- 
out alcohol  entirely.  They  say,  "  The  abstainer  alone  is 
doing  his  duty." 

In  Sweden  the  royal  family  is  noted  for  the  number 
of  those  who  practice  total  abstinence.  It  was  the 
crown  prince  himself  who  gave  the  address  of  welcome 
to  the  great  temperance  gathering  that  met  in  Stock- 
holm in  1907. 


200  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

In  Japan  the  law  of  the  land  forbids  the  sale  of 
alcoholic  drinks  to  those  who  are  under  twenty  years 
of  age. 

In  the  United  States,  in  1908,  over  thirty-six  million 
people  in  different  cities,  districts,  and  states  were  living 
under  laws  which  prohibit  the  sale  of  alcohol  in  their 
neighborhood.  The  people  themselves  have  made  these 
laws  for  their  own  protection.  Sometimes,  however, 
there  is  great  excitement,  with  danger  of  defeat.  This 
was  true  for  Indian  Territory  in  1905  ;  and  the  history 
of  the  struggle  is  a  sequel  to  the  twenty-seventh  chapter 
of  Town  and  City.  It  continues  the  tale  of  the  rela- 
tion of  America  to  the  Indians  and  to  their  protection 
against  alcohol. 

For  seventy-two  years  the  government  of  the  United 
States  kept  its  promise  to  the  Five  Civilized  Tribes, 
and  without  alcohol  the  Indians  prospered  so  well  that 
it  did  not  occur  to  them  that  they  could  ever  again  be 
in  danger  from  intoxicating  liquors  sold  in  public.  But 
in  course  of  time  there  was  danger,  and  it  came  about 
in  this  way. 

The  great  event  for  every  territory  in  America  is 
when  it  can  count  up  inhabitants  enough  to  allow  it  to 
be  changed  from  a  territory  to  a  state ;  for  when  this 
time  arrives  it  may  send  senators  and  representatives  to 
Congress,  and  may  do  its  part  in  governing  the  entire 
country  as  well  as  itself.  Before  this  day  dawns  each 


THAT  WHICH  DESTROYS  2OI 

territory  is  treated  as  a  child  and  governed  from  head- 
quarters in  Washington.  We  see,  then,  why  a  territory 
is  about  as  proud  to  become  a  state  and  a  voter  as  a 
boy  is  to  become  a  man  and  a  voter.  Yet  it  was  this 
very  chance  to  be  a  state  that  brought  the  danger  to 
Indian  Territory  in  1905. 

For  some  time  there  had  been  talk  about  changing 
three  western  territories  —  New  Mexico,  Oklahoma,  and 
Indian  Territory  —  into  states;  and  at  last  it  looked  as 
if  Congress  would  do  it.  Naturally,  of  course,  everything 
that  is  said  or  written  at  such  a  time  is  carefully  fol- 
lowed by  those  who  are  specially  interested.  We  may 
then  imagine  the  astonishment,  even  the  terror,  of  the 
Indians,  when  they  saw  that  according  to  the  proposals 
that  were  being  made,  the  government  was  likely  to 
give  up  all  responsibility  in  the  matter  of  prohibiting 
the  sale  of  alcohol  in  their  territory.  In  which  case,  after 
Indian  Territory  should  become  a  state,  any  liquor  dealer 
in  the  land  would  be  quite  at  liberty  to  carry  on  his 
business  there. 

Not  alone  Indians,  but  white  residents  of  Indian 
Territory  as  well,  were  ready  to  protest  against  this. 
They  had  gone  to  the  place  to  be  rid  of  the  crime 
and  the  taxes  that  liquor  brings,  and  were  not  at  all  in- 
clined to  give  up  their  freedom  without  a  struggle. 

But  the  situation  was  even  worse  than  at  first  ap- 
peared. Look  at  a  map  of  the  United  States  and  notice 


202  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

that  Texas  is  south  of  Indian  Territory  and  Arkansas 
east  of  it.  Now  both  of  these  states  had  already  voted 
saloons  out  of  more  than  two  thirds  of  their  area.  Be- 
sides this,  other  states  north  and  east  were  also  crowd- 
ing saloons  out  of  one  district  after  another.  The  result 
was  that  thousands  of  those  who  wished  to  sell  alcohol 
and  thousands  of  those  who  wished  to  buy  it  had  been 
forced  out  of  business  and  were  eagerly  ready  for  the 
new  opening. 

The  inhabitants  of  Indian  Territory  were  convinced 
that  if  the  government  of  the  United  States  should 
cease  to  protect  them  from  alcoholic  drinks,  many  dis- 
lodged and  undesirable  citizens  from  elsewhere  would 
crowd  in  like  famished  wolves  and  would  try  to  com- 
pensate themselves  for  having  been  thrust  out  of  other 
places.  For  this  purpose,  indeed,  unscrupulous  men  were 
using  their  money  and  their  influence  to  try  to  induce 
the  United  States  Senate  to  break  its  promise.  They 
were  ready  to  sacrifice  even  the  honor  of  their  country 
for  the  sake  of  getting  alcohol  into  the  new  state. 

There  was  still  another  party  at  work,  however.  Nor 
was  this  strange,  for  when  a  great  calamity  threatens  to 
overwhelm  a  people,  all  good  citizens  are  ready  to  join 
hands  for  the  rescue.  Indians  now  held  meetings  and 
conferences.  They  worked  and  protested.  Their  white 
fellow-citizens  sent  delegates  to  talk  with  senators  and 
with  different  members  of  important  committees  in 


THAT  WHICH  DESTROYS  203 

Washington.  They  kept  the  country  informed  as  to 
what  the  danger  was  and  how  things  were  going.  They 
let  certain  suspected  senators  know  that  if  they  should 
betray  the  government  by  voting  to  break  its  solemn 
promise,  the  honest  people  of  the  entire  country  would 
be  outraged  and  would  do  all  they  could  to  prevent 
them  from  being  sent  to  Congress  again. 

Among  the  senators  themselves  there  were  those  who 
said  that  rather  than  have  the  government  disgrace 
itself  by  a  broken  promise  of  this  sort,  they  would  vote 
against  having  Indian  Territory  become  a  state  at  all. 
In  which  case,  the  prohibition  laws  would  stay  as  they 
had  been. 

The  agitation  lasted  for  two  years.  Then  the  senators 
did  what  was  honest.  They  even  made  that  part  of  the 
country  safer  than  before,  for  they  joined  Indian  Terri- 
tory to  Oklahoma,  gave  the  name  Oklahoma  to  the 
new  state,  and  enacted  a  temperance  law  which  will  do 
its  part  in  saving  Oklahoma  from  alcohol.  The  follow- 
ing words  are  taken  from  the  new  law: 

The  manufacture,  sale,  barter,  and  giving  away  of  intoxicating  liquors 
within  this  state  is  hereby  prohibited  for  a  period  of  twenty-one  years 
after  the  date  of  the  admission  of  this  state  into  the  Union,  and  there- 
after until  the  people  of  this  state  shall  otherwise  provide  by  amend- 
ment of  this  constitution. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  value  of  the  work  which 
certain  scientists  did  in  1775.  These  men  were  anxious 
to  know  how  much  heat  the  body  of  man  can  endure 
and  still  keep  at  its  work.  For  the  sake  of  making  no 
great  blunder,  they  began  their  tests  by  passing  from 
one  heated  room  to  another  until  they  found  themselves 
living  and  breathing  in  a  room  in  which  the  thermome- 
ter showed  a  heat  of  210°  F.1  This  is  but  two  degrees 
cooler  than  the  temperature  which  water  needs  for 
boiling. 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  air  of  the  room  felt  very 
hot.  One  man,  however,  stayed  in  it  for  ten  minutes. 
During  this  time  the  heat  was  so  great  that  it  twisted 
and  broke  the  ivory  frames  of  all  the  thermometers  but 
one.  More  than  this,  the  air  which  the  man  inhaled  was 
so  much  hotter  than  that  which  he  exhaled,  that,  with 
each  breath  which  he  drew,  he  felt  as  if  he  were  scorch- 
ing his  nostrils.  But  with  each  exhalation  his  nostrils 
were  cooled  again.  He  took  the  thermometer  in  his 
hand  and  blew  on  it.  At  once  the  mercury  sank  in  the 

1  Fahrenheit. 
204 


PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN  205 

tube,  showing  that  his  breath  was  cooler  than  the  room. 
He  blew  on  his  fingers  and  they  were  cooled  too. 

In  another  experiment  afterwards,  the  same  men  went 
into  a  small  room  which  was  even  hotter  than  any 
they  had  been  in  before.  Here  the  thermometer  showed 
260°  F.  This,  then,  was  forty-eight  degrees  hotter  than 
water  needs  for  boiling.  As  they  entered,  the  air  felt 
hot  but  they  could  bear  it.  And  while  they  stayed 
there  they  did  various  things  to  show  what  the  heat  of 
the  room  was  able  to  accomplish.  They  took  a  piece  of 
raw  beefsteak,  left  it  uncovered,  took  a  pair  of  bellows, 
blew  the  heated  air  across  the  steak  for  thirteen  minutes, 
and  found  that  it  was  rather  overcooked.  An  egg  was 
roasted  hard  in  twenty  minutes ;  water  soon  boiled  and 
bubbled;  watch  chains  became  too  hot  to  be  touched; 
and  rings  had  to  be  left  off,  lest  the  heated  metal  should 
burn  a  deep  circle  about  the  tender  flesh  of  the  finger. 
Leather  shoes  could  not  be  worn,  for  the  leather  itself 
curled  up  and  was  ruined. 

All  this  happened  to  their  possessions,  but  the  men 
themselves,  although  surrounded  by  the  same  heated  air, 
were  neither  boiled  nor  roasted.  They  lived  and  breathed 
in  the  place,  escaped  alive,  and  their  escape  was  no 
miracle.  It  was  explained  by  the  power  of  the  sweat 
glands.  If  these  small  laboratories  had  stayed  inactive, 
the  scientists  might  have  suffered  from  the  heat  even  as 
did  the  steak.  But  their  glands  were  able  to  save  them. 


2O6 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


As  soon  as  the  men  entered  the  heated  room  the 
sweat  glands  began  their  work;  perspiration  was  manu- 
factured in  quantities;  it  poured  from  the  open  flues  of 
countless  small  laboratories  and  emptied  itself  upon  the 
skin,  whence  it  was  evaporated.  Thus  perspiration  kept 
the  skin  moist,  and  the  evaporation  of 
the  moisture  kept  the  surface  of  the  body 
cool  enough  to  save  it  from  being  cooked. 
Certainly  the  men  were  uncomfortable 
from  first  to  last,  but  they  did  not  suffer. 
The  record  of  these  experiments  is 
given  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  for  the 
year  1775. 

If  you  ever  have  the  chance,  watch 
the  streaming,  steaming  backs  of  such 
men  as  pitch  coal  into  the  huge  furnace 
of  an  ocean  liner.  There  you  will  see  the 
same  work  of  protection  carried  on  by 

A  SWEAT  GLAND  .  ' 

AND  ITS  OUTLET  these  tireless  glands.  Their  exact  number 
ON  THE  SKIN  jg  unknowri)  but  by  counting  a  few,  in  a 
small  area  of  the  skin,  and  by  multiplying  this  number 
by  the  extent  of  the  surface  of  the  body,  men  estimate 
that  each  of  us  is  supplied  with  about  two  million  sweat- 
gland  laboratories.  All  are  slightly  busy  most  of  the 
time,  but  only  extraordinarily  busy  when  emergencies 
overtake  the  body. 


PROTECTED   BY  THE  SKIN  207 

Just  here  review  your  knowledge  of  the  skin  and  of 
perspiration  as  learned  in   Good  Health  : 

1.  The  outside  layer  of  the  skin  is  called  epider- 
mis.   It  can  be  cut  or  pricked  without  giving  pain. 
It  protects  all  that  lies  underneath  it,  in  the  second 
layer  of  the  skin. 

2.  The  second  layer  —  the  dermis  —  holds  capil- 
laries, nerve  fibers,  hair  cells  with  their  muscles  and 
oil  glands,  sweat  glands,  and  pigment  cells.    These 
last    contain    coloring    matter  —  pigment  —  which 
gives  one  boy  freckles  and  another  boy  tan ;  which 
makes    one   man   brown   and   another  man  yellow. 
Both  nails  and  hair  are  constantly  being  formed  in 
the  dermis  and  pushed  upward.1 

3.  Perspiration  is  a  mixture  of  water  and  waste. 
It  is  poured  out  by  the  sweat  glands  when  the  body 
is  heated  or  exercised.    The  water  soon  evaporates 
and  cools  the  skin.    The  waste  stays  on  the  skin 
and  must  be  washed  or  rubbed  off;   otherwise  it 
mixes  with  oil  from  the  oil  glands,  with  bits  of  epi- 
dermis, with  dust  from  the  clothes  and  from  the  air, 
and  stays  like  a  snug,  thin,  perfectly  fitting  coat  on 
the  outside  of  the  body  from  head  to  heel.    A  thick 
wrap  of  this  sort  interferes  with  the  healthy  action 
of  the  skin,  and  gives  off  an  unpleasant  smell.    It 
may  be    removed    by   a   hard,   dry   rub,    and   it   is 

1  Full  directions  about  the  care  of  both  are  given  in  Good  Health. 


208 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


important  to  take  the  rub  when- 
ever a  bath  is  out  of  the  question. 

Since  the  skin  is  so  well  provided 
with  blood  vessels,  it  is  natural  that 
small  wounds  should  heal  quickly. 
Even  when  a  patch  of  skin  is  entirely 
destroyed  by  being  scalded  or  burned, 
there  is  such  power  of  life  left  along 
the  edges,  that  new  skin  grows  out 
from  it  day  by  day  until  the  chasm 
is  entirely  covered. 

But  there  is  a  limit  to  what  can 
be  done  in  this  direction,  and  at  such 
times  doctors  step  in  with  their  won- 
derful help  from  grafted  skin. 

For  each  of  us,  however,  there  is 
something  far  more  important  than 
hot  ovens,  burned  flesh,  and  the  graft- 
ing of-  the  skin.  It  is  not  probable 
that  we  ourselves  shall  meet  these 
A,  homy  layer  of  epider-  terrible  experiences.  But  a  very  prac- 

mis;    B,  deeper  layer  of       .  . 

epidermis;  c,  duct  of  tical,  everyday   danger   is   always   at 

sweat  gland;  D   dermis ;     ^^    WQ  may  take  cold  through  OUr 
J5,    connective    tissue   in  * 

which  the  black  lines  rep-  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  skin  health 

resent  blood  vessels  .      .  T  .  . 

and  vigor.  Let  us  therefore  remember 
that  the  skin  is  constantly  covered  with  a  slight  mois- 
ture called  insensible  perspiration,  and  that  when  there  is 


CUT  THROUGH  THE 
LAYERS  OF  THE  SKIN 


PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN  209 

enough  of  this  moisture  to  be  noticed  it  is  called  sensible 
perspiration.  The  purpose  of  perspiration  is  to  cool  the 
body  whenever  it  is  in  danger  of  getting  overheated. 
For  the  sake  of  grasping  the  situation  more  clearly,  bear 
the  following  facts  in  mind : 

1.  When  a  man  is  heated  from  exercise,  capillaries 
in  the  exercised  part  of  the  body  are  stretched  out 
with  the  blood  which  is  forced  into  them. 

2.  If  a  heated  man,  covered  with  perspiration,  sits 
in  a  draft,  his  blood  is  cooled,  the  capillaries  of  the 
skin  contract,  and  the  mass  of  the  blood  goes  to 
some  other  place. 

3.  When  this  occurs,  the  linings  of  nose,  throat, 
lungs,  and  intestines  are  apt  to  be  overcrowded  by 
the  blood  which  has  been  forced  into  them  from  the 
skin,  and  the  most  sensitive  lining  suffers  most. 

Usually  the  first  symptom  of  a  cold  is  that  a  man 
feels  stuffy  in  nose,  throat,  or  lungs.  The  explanation  of 
the  feeling  is  the  distended  capillaries,  with  another  fact 
added.  Although  red  corpuscles  continue  to  deal  with 
oxygen  as  they  have  always  done,  still  the  white  corpus- 
cles are  now  behaving  strangely.  They  get  together, 
many  of  them  stick  to  the  inside  walls  all  along  the 
length  of  the  capillaries,  and  the  more  inactive  they  are, 
the  less  do  they  seize  and  destroy  intruding  microbes. 
These  microbes,  therefore,  remain  in  the  blood  and  con- 
tinue such  mischief  as  their  nature  makes  possible. 


210  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

When  a  man  has  a  cold  the  trouble  often  is  that-  in- 
fluenza microbes  have  escaped  the  white  corpuscles  and 
have  firmly  established  themselves  in  the  part  of  the 
body  which  is  congested  with  blood. 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  not  hard  to  understand 
why  a  man  who  has  a  cold  is  so  much  more  liable  to 
take  other  diseases  to  which  he  is  exposed.  He  is  in 
a  weakened  condition,  and  already  microbes  instead  of 
white  corpuscles  have  the  upper  hand. 

But  suppose  a  cold  is  coming  on,  what  does  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  the  skin  direct  us  to  do  about  it  ? 

Draw  blood  away  from  the  region  of  the  cold  as 
promptly  as  possible.  Do  it  in  several  ways:  take 
vigorous  exercise  until  every  sweat  gland  is  active ; 
take  a  hot  bath;  soak  the  feet  in  hot  water;  drink 
hot  lemonade;  go  to  bed;  sleep  warm;  perspire  freely. 
By  keeping  warm  in  bed  the  blood  goes  to  the  surface 
of  the  body,  and  delicate  internal  membranes  are  re- 
lieved of  superfluous  blood.  White  corpuscles  are  also 
stirred  up,  and  restoration  begins.  Stay  in  bed  until  the 
feeling  of  cold  is  over.  One  night  may  suffice.  When 
you  leave  the  bed  be  specially  careful  to  avoid  every 
chance  draft,  for  a  draft  just  now  will  undo  the  good 
results  of  the  heat  treatment.  Take  a  warm  bath  at 
once,  then  a  quick  wash  with  cool  water.  This  will 
stimulate  the  nerves  of  your  skin  without  chilling  the 
blood  itself,  and  keep  you  from  taking  cold  afterwards. 


PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN  2  1 1 

If  going  to  bed  is  out  of  the  question,  dress  more 
warmly  than  usual,  keep  out  of  drafts,  observe  every  law 
of  general  health,  and  determine  to  be  strictly  careful 
not  to  expose  yourself  to  colds  in  the  future. 

Sitting  in  drafts  or  with  damp  feet,  or  with  clothes 
damp  from  perspiration  or  from  rain,  is  dangerous  be- 
cause in  these  ways  the  body  may  be  chilled.  A  quick, 
cold,  two-minute  bath  with  a  hard  rub  afterwards  acts 
as  a  tonic  and  not  as  a  chill  to  the  body. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL 

Let  a  man  live  in  central  Africa  or  let  him  travel 
to  the  coldest  land;  let  him  stay  in  the  burning  heat 
of  his  city  home  or  wander  in  the  cool  shadows  of 
the  country;  let  him  be  in  bed  or  in  the  harvest  field, 
in  the  countinghouse  or  in  the  mine ;  wherever  he  is, 
he  will  find  that  if  he  is  well  the  thermometer  under 
his  tongue  always  indicates  about  ninety-eight  degrees 
of  temperature. 

In  each  place  also,  even  if  he  is  not  well,  the  heat  of 
his  body  will  change  but  little.  We  say  that  a  man  has 
a  slight  fever  if  his  temperature  is  100°  F.  If  it  reaches 
102°  we  grow  somewhat  troubled ;  if  it  rises  to  103°  and 
then  to  104°,  we  are  truly  anxious ;  for  no  man  is  expected 
to  live  after  his  temperature  has  reached  a  higher  point 
than  107°. 

It  is  well  for  us  that  the  body  has  this  power  to  keep 
the  blood  warm  independent  of  outside  conditions;  for 
if  it  were  otherwise,  —  if  we  were  as  cold-blooded  as  is 
the  frog,  we  should  be  as  useless  in  cold  weather  and 
in  cold  places  as  he  is.  We  should  have  to  hibernate 
in  winter  as  he  does. 

212 


WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL  213 

Birds,  as  well  as  all  animals  that  begin  life  by  taking 
milk  from  their  parents — mammals  they  are  called — are 
warm-blooded.  Each  has  for  itself  this  wonderful  power 
of  meeting  the  changes  of  the  weather  with  a  constant 
temperature  of  its  own.  As  a  result,  such  animals  are 
generally  warmer  than  the  surrounding  air,  and  are  called 
warm-blooded  for  this  reason. 

Cold-blooded  creatures  usually  feel  cold  to  the  hand 
when  we,  who  are  warm-blooded,  touch  them.  Their 
bodies  have  no  power  to  stay  warm  when  the  air  is 
cold  about  them. 

Although  this  power  is  part  of  our  possession,  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  even  the  heat  of  our  warm  bodies 
can  fail.  Men  do  freeze  to  death.  They  cannot  endure 
a  freeze  and  then  slowly  come  out  of  it,  as  does  a  cold- 
blooded animal.  People  may  live  in  the  coldest  countries 
and  be  active  and  healthy  there,  but  the  one  condition  is 
that  they  help  the  body  do  its  work  by  preventing  the 
escape  of  more  heat  than  the  same  body  can  promptly 
replace. 

Never  confuse  these  two  facts  : 

1.  The  inside  heat  of  the  body  changes  little  from 
year's  end  to  year's  end.    If  it  changes  many  degrees 
up  or  down,  we  die. 

2.  The  skin  feels  warm  or  cold  as  the  air  about  it 
changes.    Skin  and  nose  and  toes  may  freeze,  but  the 
inside  temperature  remains  practically  unchanged. 


214  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Put  a  dozen  people  in  a  small  room,  and  the  room 
grows  warmer  because  those  human  beings  give  off 
enough  heat  to  warm  the  air  about  them.  In  a  cold 
country  or  in  a  cold  room  each  body  must  keep  within 
itself  as  much  of  its  own  heat  as  it  can.  Naturally, 
therefore,  we  wear  more  clothes  at  one  time  than  at 
another.  We  are  treasuring  up  our  own  supply  of  heat 
for  our  own  use. 

In  the  same  matter  of  heat  we  may  ask  why  exercise 
helps.  Why  do  boys  say,  "  It 's  so  cold  we  've  got  to  run 
to  keep  warm  ?  "  For  the  mere  reason  that  when  muscles 
contract  and  when  blood  moves  fast,  the  heat  of  the  body 
is  decidedly  increased.  Any  one  who  can  get  hold  of  a 
doctor's  thermometer  may  test  this  for  himself.  Put  it 
far  back  under  your  tongue  and  keep  it  there  two  min- 
utes ;  decide  what  your  present  temperature  is,  then  take 
vigorous  exercise  of  one  sort  or  another  for  twenty  min- 
utes and  use  the  thermometer  again.  If  you  did  not 
breathe  through  your  mouth,  you  may  find  that  you 
have  been  able  to  raise  your  temperature  slightly. 

Consider  also  that  while  you  exercised  and  breathed 
hard  you  expelled  quantities  of  warmed  air  from  your 
lungs.  Without  doubt,  then,  taken  altogether,  your  body 
produced  a  large  amount  of  heat  while  it  also  worked. 
Now  try  to  explain  the  source  of  its  power  to  do  these 
two  things.  Watch  yourself  at  the  dinner  table  after  exer- 
cising. You  have  such  an  appetite  as  comes  only  when 


WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL  215 

you  have  been  using  up  your  supplies.  Food  is  to  the 
body  what  fuel  is  to  a  stove,  and  in  a  certain  way  your 
machine  has  been  burning  up  its  fuel  while  you  worked 
and  grew  warm.  Your  appetite  is  nature's  call  for  a  fresh 
supply  of  food. 

Sometimes  active  exercise  leads  the  body  to  call  for 
so  much  fuel  that  the  stored-up  supply,  fat,  is  rapidly 
reduced.  Talk  this  over  with  any  thoughtful  football 
player  and  he  will  tell  you  that  during  the  football  sea- 
son he  loses  much  of  the  fat  which  was  stored  up  by 
the  body  during  the  previous  summer.  The  body  has 
need  of  extra  fuel  when  it  does  unusual  work,  and  it 
then  draws  on  its  reserved  supply. 

A  fat  man  applies  this  power  of  the  body  to  his  own 
case.  He  studies  himself  both  in  the  mirror  and  on  the 
scales,  and  concludes  that  his  body  has  stored  up  too 
much  fuel  in  the  shape  of  fat.  He  knows  that  to  get  rid 
of  it  he  must  compel  his  muscles  to  use  it,  and  at  once 
he  begins  a  course  of  vigorous  exercise  which  gives  hard 
work  to  large  muscles.  They  respond  by  calling  for  fuel, 
and  if  he  is  faithful  day  after  day,  the  mirror  and  the 
scales  will  soon  show  that  he  is  accomplishing  his  pur- 
pose,—  that  he  is  losing  his  fat. 

Perhaps  we  wonder  how  it  happens  that  although  we 
sometimes  exercise  so  hard  as  to  use  up  much  of  our 
fuel,  the  thermometer  shows  a  gain  of  so  little  bodily 
heat.  As  we  learned  in  the  last  chapter,  the  reason 


2i6  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

rests  with  the  sweat  glands.  They  are  such  a  success- 
ful cooling  device  that  whenever  we  exercise  enough 
to  raise  our  temperature  above  its  normal  point,  they 
promptly  manufacture  their  clear-colored  liquid  and 
send  so  much  of  it  out  upon  the  skin  that  the  internal 
temperature  of  the  body  is  kept  from  rising  too  high 
for  safety. 

The  body  is  thus  seen  to  produce  its  own  heat,  while 
it  also  cools  itself  when  we  overheat  it.  Through  this 
power,  however,  we  may  take  cold  unless  we  know  how 
to  prevent  heat  from  escaping  too  fast  when  the  body 
needs  it.  Three  rules  will  be  useful  in  putting  this  into 
practice : 

1.  Never  sit  long  in  a  room  that  feels  chilly.    A 
long,  slow    chilling  of   the  body   does  even  more 
harm  than  a  draft. 

2.  Never  come  in  heated  from  hard  exercise  and 
cool  off  in  a  chilly  room.    Either  continue  exercise 
in  the  room,  or  wrap  up  thoroughly.    Best  of  all, 
when  this  is  possible,  take  a  quick  cool  bath  and 
change  your  damp  underwear  before  you  sit  down 
for  quiet  work. 

3.  Remember  that  there  is  little  danger  of  harm 
to  health,  however  damp  the  clothing  may  be,  so 
long  as  vigorous  exercise  is  kept  up. 

Whether  our  garments  are  damp  or  dry,  however,  it  is 
always  true  that  we  are  warmed  not  by  the  cold  we  keep 


WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL  2  1 7 

out  but  by  the  heat  we  keep  in.1  Flannel  succeeds 
better  than  cotton  in  preventing  the  escape  of  heat, 
because  more  air  is  entangled  in  the  mesh  of  woolen 
than  in  that  of  cotton  goods,  and  air  is  a  poor  con- 
ductor of  heat.  For  this  reason  we  choose  woolen  goods 
for  winter  wear  and  cotton  materials  for  our  summer 
clothing. 

During  a  long  drive  in  the  face  of  a  sharp  wind 
many  a  sensible  man  has  slipped  a  newspaper  under  his 
coat.  He  has  acted  on  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  a 
layer  of  air  is  under  each  layer  of  paper,  and  that  the 
more  layers  of  paper  and  air  he  has  near  his  body  the 
warmer  will  they  keep  him.  In  summer,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  choose  the  thinnest  muslin  and  the  fewest 
possible  layers  of  it.  We  wish  to  make  it  easy  for  the 
heat  to  escape. 

That  which  we  may  do  in  guiding  or  in  preventing 
the  loss  of  bodily  heat  leads  us  to  our  knowledge  of 
another  fact :  We  may  so  train  the  body  that  it  will  im- 
prove in  the  power  to  adjust  itself  to  -different  states  'of 
heat  and  cold.  In  other  words,  the  body  can  be  educated. 


1  If  the  body  is  not  sufficiently  covered,  heat  radiates  from  it  and  a  cool  layer 
of  air  finally  surrounds  it.  Because  of  this  cold  layer  the  blood  vessels  of  the  skin 
now  contract  and  force  the  blood  away  from  the  surface  to  the  inward  parts  of 
the  body.  These  parts  then  become  congested,  while  the  skin  feels  cold,  because 
the  contracted  blood  vessels  can  only  hold  a  small  supply  of  blood.  By  putting 
on  extra  clothing  at  such  times  and  by  rubbing  ourselves  hard,  we  cause  the 
blood  vessels  of  the  skin  to  expand,  more  blood  passes  through  them,  and  we 
are  warm  again. 


2l8  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

This  may  be  done  by  following  the  rules  already  given 
and  by  attending  to  a  few  other  points: 

1.  Do  not  spend  much  time  in  overheated  rooms, 
that  is,  in  places  heated  above   70°    F.    The  body 
grows  exceedingly  sensitive  to  cold  if   it    is  kept 
constantly  too  warm. 

2.  Do  not  overweight  yourself  with  clothing  in 
a  warm  house,  nor  take  vigorous  exercise  in  heavy 
garments.    In  other  words,  regulate  your  clothes  to 
your  need. 

3.  If  you  are  in  good  health,  take  a  quick  cold 
bath  every  morning.   Nothing  is  better  for  preparing 
the  blood  vessels  for  changes  in  temperature. 

4.  Keep    the    body    clean    by   a   soap-and-water 
bath  at  least  once  a  week. 

He  who  attends  to  the  various  rules  connected  with 
bathing,  eating,  exercise,  and  the  heating  of  the  body 
will  find,  at  last,  that  he  has  reached  the  happy  condition 
where  sudden  changes  in  temperature  and  unexpected 
drafts  do  not  harm  him  as  they  did  in  former  days. 

The  great  work  of  hygiene  is  to  help  the  body  as  it 
tries  to  help  itself. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  LIST 

HOWELL,  W.  H.,  A  Text-Book  of  Physiology  for  Medical  Students  and  Physi- 

cians.   1907. 

HOUGH,  THEODORE,  and  SEDGWICK,  W.  T.,  The  Human  Mechanism.    1906. 
LANDOIS,  L.,  and  STERLING,  WILLIAM,  A  Text-Book  of  Human  Physiology. 


CANNON,  W.  B.,  The  Movements  of  the  Stomach  studied  by  Means  of  the 

Rontgen  Rays.    Article  in  The  American  Journal  of  Physiology.    Vol.  I. 
CANNON,  W.  B.,  The  Movements  of  the  Intestines  studied  by  Means  of  the 

Rontgen  Rays.    Article  in  The  American  Journal  of  Physiology.   Vol.  VI. 
CHITTENDEN,  R.  H.,  The  Nutrition  of  Man.    1907. 
CUTTEN,  G.  B.,  The  Psychology  of  Alcoholism.    1907. 
GULICK,  L.  H.,  Physical  Education  by  Muscular  Exercise.    1904. 
GULICK,  L.  H.,  The  Efficient  Life.    1907. 
HARVEY,  WILLIAM,  Anatomical  Disquisition  on  the  Motion  of  the  Heart 

and  Blood  in  Animals.    Written  in  1628.    Translated  from  the  Latin  by 

Robert  Willis. 
HORSLEY,  SIR  VICTOR,  and  STURGE,  MARY  D.,  Alcohol  and  the  Human 

Body.    1907. 

RAVENHILL,  ALICE,  Lessons  in  Practical  Hygiene.    1907. 
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219 


QUESTIONS 

CHAPTER  I 

How  do  some  cities  get  the  records  of  a  man  ?  Which  gives  the  best 
record,  a  photograph  or  the  measurements  of  certain  bones  ?  After  what 
age  are  bones  set  for  life  ?  Why  does  a  nurse  support  the  head  and 
back  of  a  young  baby  ?  How  do  Indian  mothers  secure  flat  heads  for 
their  children  ?  Describe  the  case  of  the  baby  who  always  slept  with  his 
face  turned  the  same  way  on  his  pillow.  If  his  mother  had  done  nothing 
about  it,  what  would  have  been  the  result  ?  Give  two  laws  of  bone 
growth.  Describe  the  appearance  of  the  boy  who  failed  to  get  work. 
Describe  the  boy  who  secured  work.  In  what  ways  does  the  body  tell 
facts  about  us  ?  How  much  responsibility  have  we  for  the  bodies  we 
live  in  ? 

CHAPTER  II 

Were  you  satisfied  or  dissatisfied  with  the  examination  of  your  own 
body  ?  What  points  did  you  decide  to  change  ?  Mention  some  objec- 
tionable positions  to  take  when  seated.  Tell  why  each  is  objectionable. 
What  difference  is  there  between  sitting  with  a  twist  in  the  back  once  in 
a  while  and  taking  the  same  position  most  of  the  time  ?  What  must  be 
guarded  against  ?  Was  it  the  older  or  the  younger  girls  in  the  German 
school  that  had  most  trouble  from  lateral  curvature  of  the  spine  ?  Why 
was  this  ?  Mention  other  countries  where  school  children  have  the  same 
curves.  Where,  when,  and  how  do  children  get  these  curves  ?  Why  are 
gymnastic  exercises  put  between  recitations  ?  Mention  various  positions 
that  bring  curves  to  the  spine.  What  objection  is  there  to  these  curves  ? 

221 


222  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

If  the  medical  inspector  finds  that  you  have  wrong  curves,  what  will  you 
do  about  it  ?    Give  four  laws  of  prevention. 

CHAPTER  III 

Mention  the  case  of  the  strong,  bent  back  and  tell  how  it  was  secured. 
Why  do  certain  bicycle  riders  have  bent  backs  ?  What  law  explains  the 
strong  but  bent  back  ?  How  did  a  traveling  man  lower  his  shoulder  ? 
Describe  the  backs  of  two  oarsmen,  and  tell  why  one  is  curved  and  the 
other  straight  even  when  they  walk.  Why  does  the  hand  of  a  piano 
player  stay  open  even  when  he  is  not  playing  ?  Why  do  the  fingers 
of  an  oarsman  curl  up  even  when  he  is  not  rowing  ?  Mention  such 
occupations  as  you  think  may  change  the  shape  of  the  body.  Why  is  the 
body  thus  changed  ?  Give  the  second  great  law  about  muscles  stretching 
and  contracting.  How  may  a  man  who  works  in  a  bent  position  save 
himself  from  the  evil  effects  of  his  work  ?  Give  such  examples  as  you 
can  call  to  mind. 

CHAPTER  IV 

What  did  the  doctor  tell  his  audience  they  could  do  with  their  bodies  ? 
How  did  the  student  show  what  the  muscles  can  do  ?  How  did  his  back 
and  arms  look  before  he  forced  the  muscles  into  action  ?  What  was  it 
that  raised  bunches  here  and  there  a  moment  later  ?  How  could  muscles 
be  pulled  up  so  short  and  hard  without  the  use  of  apparatus  ?  What  did 
the  man  pull  against  ?  Was  the  work  done  best  with  or  without  close 
attention  ?  What  did  the  lecturer  say  about  the  way  to  develop  muscles 
without  apparatus  ?  How  often  and  for  how  long  a  time  should  the 
exercises  be  taken  ?  How  much  change  did  the  student  say  he  had 
made  in  the  size  of  his  own  arm  within  one  month  ?  What  should  be 
done  to  make  a  close  examination  of  the  structure  of  a  muscle  ?  What 
is  a  muscle  fiber  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  size  and  the  shape  of 
different  muscles  ?  How  is  each  formed  ?  What  is  the  sarcolemma  ? 


QUESTIONS  223 

Where  is  the  connective  tissue  ?  What  lies  within  the  connective  tissue  ? 
Of  what  use  are  the  fine  threads  of  connective  tissues  that  stretch  away 
from  the  ends  of  muscle  fibers  ?  What  do  they  help  form  ?  How  do  you 
explain  the  difference  between  tough  and  tender  meat  ?  Why  is  a  spring 
chicken  tender  ?  How  can  you  toughen  your  own  muscle  ?  Describe 
voluntary  muscles.  What  is  the  work  of  involuntary  muscles  ?  How 
much  do  the  muscles  as  a  whole  weigh  ?  Can  you  mention  the  name  of 
any  muscle  ? 

CHAPTER  V 

In  what  way  do  bones  help  muscles  ?  How  do  muscles  and  tendons 
help  bones  ?  Describe  the  outside  of  a  fresh  bone.  Describe  the  inside 
of  a  fresh  bone.  What  is  the  advantage  in  having  bones  made  in  this 
way  ?  What  would  a  magnifying  glass  show  ?  What  two  things  can  a 
chemist  do  to  a  bone  ?  What  good  thing  does  a  cook  get  from  a  bone  ? 
What  are  the  two  important  substances  which  together  form  bone  ? 
Why  should  aged  people  be  careful  not  to  fall  ?  Why  do  their  bones 
break  more  easily  than  those  of  children?  Why  are  young  bones 
pliable  ?  If,  being  young,  you  wish  to  change  the  shape  of  your  chest, 
how  will  you  do  it?  Which  has  the  most  bones,  a  man  or  a  baby? 
Describe  the  shape  of  different  bones.  How  many  are  there  in  a  human 
being  ?  What  is  a  vertebra  ?  How  many  vertebrae  are  there  ?  How  are 
they  held  together  ?  Explain  how  vertebrae  may  become  wedge-shaped. 
What  effect  does  hard  work  have  on  the  bones  ? 

CHAPTER  VI 

Describe  the  small  foot  of  a  Chinese  lady.  How  was  it  secured? 
How  useful  was  it  ?  How  many  bones  are  there  in  the  foot  ?  How  are 
they  joined  to  each  other?  In  order  to  have  the  foot  in  thoroughly 
good  condition  and  as  useful  as  possible,  how  much  freedom  should  the 
muscles,  bones,  and  tendons  have  ?  Which  is  most  desirable,  the  flat  or 


224  THE   BODY  AT  WORK 

the  arched  foot  ?  How  can  you  decide  which  kind  you  have  ?  If  you 
have  a  tendency  to  flat  feet,  how  can  you  help  yourself  ?  Why  should 
feet  be  uncramped  ?  What  explains  the  ruined  shape  of  many  feet  ?  In 
buying  shoes,  what  points  should  be  kept  in  mind  ?  Why  are  tight  gar- 
ters objectionable  ? 

CHAPTER  VII 

What  happened  to  Alice,  the  elephant  ?  Why  is  it  often  worse  to 
sprain  an  ankle  than  to  break  a  bone  ?  What  fastens  a  muscle  to  a 
bone  ?  Just  how  does  a  muscle  help  move  a  bone  ?  Where  is  the  con- 
tracting done,  in  muscle  or  tendon  ?  What  sometimes  occurs  to  the 
bone  when  a  tendon  is  badly  strained  ?  What  connection  is  there 
between  joints  and  the  direction  which  bones  shall  take  ?  Describe  the 
joints  which  lie  between  the  skull  and  the  spine.  Where  do  we  find 
important  ball-and-socket  joints?  What  sort  of  joint  is  there  at  the 
knee  ?  What  is  the  difference  between  tendon  and  ligament  ?  What  is 
it  that  holds  bones  to  each  other  ?  Name  two  kinds  of  joints.  Where 
do  you  find  examples  of  each  ? 

CHAPTER  VIII 

In  what  ways  do  boys  in  some  cities  get  their  exercise  ?  Of  what 
advantage  is  this  exercise  ?  How  does  it  happen  that  more  attention  is 
paid  to  the  health  of  children  to-day  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world  ?  What  is  the  object  of  the  Public  Schools  Athletic  League  in 
New  York  City  ?  Tell  what  you  can  about  the  way  it  is  carried  on.  How 
does  the  victory  of  a  single  boy  mean  victory  for  his  school  ?  What  do 
the  best  athletic  trainers  of  the  country  say  about  the  use  of  alcohol  and 
tobacco  by  their  men  ?  What  part  of  the  body  does  tobacco  harm  the 
most  ?  What  is  the  usual  record,  on  the  athletic  field  and  in  the  class 
room,  of  those  who  habitually  use  cigarettes  ?  Why  has  the  American 
army  often  refused  men  who  wished  to  join  it  as  soldiers  ?  Why 


QUESTIONS  225 

should  men  with  weak  hearts  keep  out  of  the  army?  What  did  Mr. 
Me  Bride  say  about  the  use  of  tobacco  and  alcohol  by  football  players  at 
Yale  ?  What  does  Mr.  Edwards  say  for  the  Princeton  team  ?  What  does 
Mr.  Stagg  say  ?  What  does  Mr.  Gianinido  for  the  New  York  Athletic 
Club  ?  Why  did  Nansen  take  no  alcohol  with  him  when  he  left  the  Fram  ? 

CHAPTER  IX 

Tell  how  you  may  get  the  standard  of  your  heart  .beat  when  standing. 
How  can  you  increase  your  heart  beat  ?  By  what  tests  can  you  prove 
that  your  pulse  shows  what  the  rate  of  your  heart  beat  is  ?  What  dif- 
ference do  you  find  in  your  own  case  between  your  normal  pulse  and 
your  pulse  after  a  short,  quick  run  ?  What  other  facts  have  you  learned 
about  your  pulse  ?  Is  it  by  the  exercise  of  large  or  small  muscles  that  you 
increase  your  heart  beat  the  fastest  ?  Why  does  a  doctor  feel  the  pulse 
of  his  patient  ?  What  mistake  did  a  certain  frail  woman  make  about  the 
use  of  her  heart  ?  What  is  the  opposite  mistake  which  a  bicycle  rider 
sometimes  makes?  What  is  the  heart  and  where  does  it  lie?  How 
large  is  the  heart  and  when  does  it  work  ?  How  did  the  heart  of  the 
tennis  player  show  that  it  was  overtaxed  ?  How  should  the  man  have 
begun  his  playing  in  the  spring  ?  Mention  some  way  by  which  muscles 
and  heart  and  breathing  apparatus  may  all  be  trained  at  the  same  time. 
Describe  the  work  of  the  doctor  as  he  trained  the  man  who  fainted  easily. 
What  objection  is  there  to  an  overstretched  heart  muscle?  Think  of 
some  advantages  that  come  from  having  a  heart  well-trained  for  its  work. 
What  difference  is  there  in  the  size  of  the  heart  of  wild  and  caged  ani- 
mals ?  How  may  you  train  your  own  heart  ? 

CHAPTER  X 

To  what  two  men  do  we  owe  the  largest  debt  for  our  knowledge 
about  the  heart  and  the  circulation  of  the  blood  ?  When  did  Galen  live  ? 


226  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

Mention  some  facts  about  circulation  that  were  known  before  Galen 
made  his  discoveries.  What  mistake  did  those  ancients  make  about  the 
contents  of  the  arteries  ?  What  made  them  think  the  arteries  carried 
vital  spirits  instead  of  blood  ?  Where  did  Galen  practice  medicine  ? 
What  was  his  first  great  discovery  ?  What  connection  did  he  think  there 
was  between  the  heart  and  the  blood  ?  Who  was  William  Harvey  ? 
Where  was  he  lecturing  in  1 6 1 6  ?  What  did  he  notice  about  the  flow  of 
blood  from  different  wounds  ?  What  was  Harvey's  first  great  discovery  ? 
Give  some  facts  that  led  him  to  this  discovery.  How  many  quarts  of 
blood  are  there  in  the  body  ?  How  much  blood  does  the  heart  send  out 
each  time  it  contracts  ?  How  often  does  it  contract  each  minute  ?  Where 
are  the  pockets  in  the  veins  ?  Which  are  deeper  in  the  body,  arteries  or 
veins  ?  Describe  the  experiment  with  the  bandage  above  the  elbow. 
What  does  it  prove  ?  What  was  Harvey's  second  discovery  ?  What  can 
you  say  about  the  two  halves  of  the  heart  ?  What  connection  does  each 
side  have  with  pure  and  impure  blood  ? 

CHAPTER  XI 

Describe  the  experiment  which  shows  how  long  it  takes  blood  to  make 
the  circuit  of  the  body.  How  long  does  this  take  for  a  man  ?  for  a 
child  of  fourteen  ?  Describe  the  circuit  of  the  blood  from  the  veins  back 
to  the  veins.  How  does  the  blood  get  from  the  arteries  to  the  veins  for 
its  return  journey  to  the  heart  ?  What  does  the  microscope  show  in  the 
tail  of  a  tadpole  ?  When  you  cut  yourself  and  blood  flows,  what  have  you 
actually  done  ?  What  does  capillary  mean  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the 
amount  of  blood  which  the  blood  vessels  might  hold  ?  In  what  way  is 
warm  salt  water  sometimes  useful  in  the  blood  vessels  ?  What  connection 
is  there  between  exercise  and  the  amount  of  blood  which  is  sent  to  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  body  ?  Give  this  law  of  exercise. 


QUESTIONS  227 

CHAPTER  XII 

What  is  the  object  in  using  a  rough  towel  after  the  morning  bath  ? 
Describe  the  way  to  get  a  drop  of  blood  for  examination.  Why  do  you 
put  the  needle  in  the  flame  before  using  it  ?  In  getting  the  blood  what 
have  you  done  to  the  capillaries  ?  What  is  the  color  of  the  blood  ?  How 
do  you  know  that  blood  hardens  soon  after  it  leaves  the  body  ?  What 
happens  to  the  bit  of  jelly  after  it  has  been  left  undisturbed  for  about  half 
an  hour?  What  can  you  say  about  the  value  of  blood  while  a  wound 
heals  ?  What  does  a  drop  of  blood  show  when  it  is  examined  through  a 
microscope  ?  What  three  things  are  mixed  together  to  form  blood  ? 
Tell  all  you  can  about  red  corpuscles.  Describe  white  corpuscles.  What 
is  the  liquid  part  of  blood  called  ?  Describe  it.  What  does  a  chemist 
have  to  say  about  blood  ? 

CHAPTER  XIII 

What  can  you  say  about  the  importance  of  getting  the  blood  into 
close  contact  with  muscle  and  gland  ?  Describe  an  experiment  with 
tumblers  which  proves  that  certain  substances  can  pass  through  a  moist 
animal  membrane.  What  have  men  discovered  about  the  power  of  cer- 
tain gases  to  pass  through  animal  membrane  ?  How  will  you  apply  these 
experiments  to  the  work  done  by  the  liquids  and  the  gases  within  the 
body  ?  What  is  lymph  like,  and  where  is  it  found  ?  Which  gas  passes 
from  the  tissues  of  the  body  into  the  lymph  ?  How  does  this  gas  reach 
the  red  corpuscles  ?  How  does  oxygen  from  the  red  corpuscles  get  to 
the  tissues  ?  Which  two  gases  change  places  in  the  red  corpuscles  ?  Tell 
what  you  can  about  blood  in  the  arteries.  Describe  blood  in  the  veins. 
Describe  lymph.  Describe  the  origin  of  lymphatic  tubes.  What  is  the 
difference  between  the  system  of  blood  vessels  and  the  system  of 
lymphatic  tubes  ?  What  does  lymph  look  like  ?  What  does  plasma  re- 
ceive from  lymph  ?  What  does  lymph  receive  from  plasma  ?  Of  what 


228  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

use  are  pocket  valves  in  the  lining  of  the  lymph  tubes?  How  does 
vigorous  exercise  help  the  body  through  the  lymph  ?  Why  is  it  an 
advantage  to  the  tissues  to  be  surrounded  by  fresh  lymph? 

CHAPTER  XIV 

When  the  nose  or  any  other  part  of  the  body  is  red,  what  do  we 
understand  about  the  capillaries  just  there  ?  What  objection  is  there  to 
having  blood  move  slowly  through  the  capillaries  ?  Mention  two  advan- 
tages that  are  connected  with  fast-moving  blood.  Why  should  the  walls 
of  the  blood  vessels  be  kept  healthy,  vigorous,  and  elastic?  What  did 
doctors  formerly  think  about  the  connection  between  alcohol  and 
circulation  ?  After  a  man  takes  alcohol,  does  his  heart  beat  faster  or 
slower  ?  What  is  the  sphygmograph  for  ?  What  does  the  sphygmograph 
show  about  the  power  of  the  heart  before  and  after  alcohol  has  been 
used  ?  It  beats  faster,  to  be  sure,  but  what  about  the  force  which  it  puts 
into  each  stroke  ?  Does  this  prove  that  the  heart  receives  strength  or  is 
robbed  of  strength  by  the  alcohol  ?  What  is  the  natural  condition  of  the 
blood  tubes  ?  Are  they  elastic  or  nonelastic  ?  What  effect  does  alcohol 
have  on  them  ?  Why  is  it  harmful  to  have  slightly  paralyzed  blood  tubes  ? 
What  effect  has  alcohol  on  the  heart  ?  Describe  what  the  result  is  when 
both  blood  tubes  and  heart  are  thus  weakened.  What  finally  happens 
to  the  walls  of  the  tubes  ?  What  effect  does  this  have  on  the  exchanges 
between  plasma  and  lymph  ?  Why  does  the  body  suffer  when  the 
exchanges  are  made  slowly  ?  Describe  the  condition  of  the  heart  after 
it  has  been  weakened  by  alcohol.  What  objection  is  there  to  fat  among 
the  fibers  of  the  heart  ?  Why  do  surgeons  dread  to  operate  on  a  man 
who  uses  alcohol  ? 

CHAPTER  XV 

If  you  were  ever  thoroughly  out  of  breath,  describe  the  sensations. you 
had.  When  you  stopped  running,  which  was  most  tired,  your  heart,  your 


QUESTIONS  229 

lungs,  or  your  legs  ?  While  you  ran,  what  was  happening  to  the  sub- 
stance of  the  living  tissues  of  the  body  ?  What  gas  was  produced  by  the 
tissues  as  they  worked  ?  What  gas  did  they  need  in  order  to  carry  on 
their  work  ?  Through  what  stream  did  the  tissues  get  rid  of  their 
carbon  dioxid  and  receive  their  oxygen  ?  Why  did  the  blood  stream  need 
to  flow  fast  ?  Give  five  steps  that  are  connected  with  breathlessness. 
What  did  people  formerly  think  was  the  cause  of  breathlessness  ?  What 
do  people  think  about  it  now?  WThat  can  be  done  to  strengthen  the 
heart?  When  does  carbon  dioxid  form  fastest?  When  do  we  use  the 
most  oxygen  ?  When  does  a  man  give  off  the  least  carbon  dioxid  and 
call  for  the  least  oxygen  ?  Why  is  the  heart  overtaxed  when  we  run 
hard  ?  What  does  a  trained  athlete  learn  about  keeping  the  balance  of 
the  gases  in  his  blood  ?  When  is  he  willing  to  be  breathless  ?  During 
exercise,  which  muscles  call  for  the  most  oxygen  in  the  least  time  ? 
Which  two  organs  of  the  body  need  to  be  trained  in  their  relation 
to  each  other? 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Mention  some  tests  which  show  that  the  size  of  the  lungs  can  be 
increased.  How  many  lungs  have  we  ?  Where  are  they  ?  What  is  an 
air  sac  ?  When  is  blood  called  impure  ?  When  is  blood  pure  ?  What  is 
the  condition  of  the  blood  when  it  enters  the  lungs  ?  when  it  leaves  the 
lungs  ?  In  what  way  are  the  lungs  a  storehouse  ?  What  exchange  goes 
on  in  the  air  sacs  ?  Where  is  the  oxygfen  taken  by  the  red  corpuscles  ? 
Is  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  lungs  or  of  the  tissues  that  we  breathe? 
How  long  does  it  take  blood  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  body  ?  Describe 
the  way  oxygen  and  carbon  dioxid  change  places. in  the  lungs.  Why  are 
large  lungs  an  advantage  to  the  body  ?  How  may  their  size  be  increased  ? 
What  are  the  best  kinds  of  exercise  for  the  lungs  ?  What  danger  comes 
from  inactive  air  sacs  ?  Where  does  tuberculosis  most  often  begin  ? 
Why  should  breathing  be  done  through  the  nose  and  not  through  the 
mouth  ?  Why  should  air  be  well  cleaned  before  it  enters  the  air  sacs  ? 


230  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Give  the  chemist's  reason  for  objecting  to  alcoholic  drinks.  Who  was 
Dr.  Warren?  How  many  samples  of  adulterated  liquors  did  he  find 
among  the  six  hundred  which  he  examined  ?  Mention  some  of  the  poisons 
used  in  adulterating  the  liquors.  What  did  the  manager  of  the  St.  Louis 
Wholesale  Liquor  Association  say  about  adulterations  ?  Give  two 
reasons  why  alcoholic  drinks  are  adulterated.  What  must  the  drugs 
do  for  the  drink  ?  Which  is  the  more  dangerous,  pure  alcoholic  drinks 
or  adulterated  drinks  ?  Why  ?  Give  the  case  of  the  two  men  who 
drank  whisky.  What  did  Dr.  Cox  discover  about  the  whisky  ?  Tell  the 
story  of  the  two  fishermen.  Which  would  be  safer,  to  get  a  liquor 
dealer's  recipe  book  and  mix  our  own  drinks,  or  to  buy  drinks  as  they 
are  sold?  Why?  What  did  Mr.  Redding  discover  about  port  wine? 
How  can  we  tell  whether  an  alcoholic  drink  is  adulterated  or  not? 
Does  it  often  happen  that  those  who  use  adulterated  drinks  die  sud- 
denly ?  How  do  we  know  that  their  lives  are  shortened  by  their  drink- 
ing ?  (The  answer  is  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Town  and  City.)  What 
is  the  great  objection  to  patent  medicines  ?  In  which  medicines  is  there 
a  large  per  cent  of  alcohol?  What  does  the  United  States  law  about 
patent  medicines  demand  ?  How  can  we  tell  whether  a  bottle  contains 
poisons  or  not  ? 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

What  men  were  used  as  a  sort  of  laboratory  for  food  experiments  ? 
From  what  department  of  the  army  service  did  they  go  ?  In  what  town 
were  the  tests  made  ?  What  special  treatment  did  the  men  receive  ? 
Did  they  eat  more  or  less  than  other  men?  What  was  the  result? 
What  did  the  tests  prove  about  the  need  a  man  has  for  meat?  Who 
should  eat  most  and  who  should  eat  least?  Mention  two  things  that 
food  does  for  the  body.  Mention  the  five  food  substances.  Whence  do 


QUESTIONS  231 

plants  get  their  nourishment  ?  Whence  do  animals  get  theirs  ?  Which 
kind  of  food  contains  the  most  proteid  ?  What  two  kinds  of  food  does 
the  word  "  carbohydrate  "  include  ?  Is  carbohydrate  most  abundant  in 
the  food  we  get  from  plants  or  in  that  which  we  get  from  animals? 
W7hich  food  substance  does  the  body  use  in  building  up  tissue  ?  Which 
does  it  use  as  fuel  for  energy  ?  Which  for  warmth  ?  When  too  much 
carbohydrate  is  eaten  what  becomes  of  the  surplus  ?  When  too  much 
proteid  is  eaten  what  becomes  of  the  surplus  ?  When  does  a  person  need 
the  most  proteid  and  the  most  carbohydrate  ?  If  we  do  not  eat  meat, 
what  articles  should  we  use  instead,  to  supply  ourselves  with  proteid  ? 
Plan  some  meals  where  the  proteid  is  supplied  by  something  else  than 
meat.  (You  will  need  to  study  the  table  for  this.)  Why  are  creamed 
potatoes  more  nourishing  than  potatoes  boiled  in  water?  Why  is 
macaroni  and  cheese  a  most  nourishing  dish  ?  Why  would  it  never 
do  to  take  our  nourishment  in  condensed  tablets  ? 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Where  did  Dr.  Cannon  conduct  his  experiments  on  cats  ?  Why  were 
cats  chosen  ?  Why  was  bismuth  mixed  with  the  cats  food  ?  What  did 
Dr.  Cannon  wish  to  learn  about  the  stomach?  Why  did  he  use  the 
X-rays  ?  Describe  the  waves  of  motion.  Describe  the  changing  shape 
of  the  stomach.  How  soon  after  eating  did  the  food  begin  to  leave  the 
stomach  ?  What  is  the  name  of  the  muscle  that  guards  the  outlet  ? 
Describe  the  uneven  action  of  the  pylorus  after  the  cat  swallowed  the 
tablet  of  bismuth  and  starch  paste.  What  did  this  experiment  prove  ? 
Why  is  it  a  disadvantage  to  have  food  detained  too  long  in  the  stomach  ? 
What  discovery  did  Dr.  Cannon  make  in  connection  with  the  cat  that  lost 
its  temper?  What  emotions  have  the  power  to  stop  all  action  of  the 
stomach  ?  What  effect  does  a  happy  mind  have  on  the  work  which  the 
stomach  does  ? 


232  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

CHAPTER  XX 

What  is  food  in  the  stomach  called  when  it  is  soft  enough  to  pass 
through  the  pylorus  ?  How  long  is  the  small  intestine  ?  How  thin  is 
chyme  when  it  passes  through  the  pylorus  ?  What  makes  it  grow  thinner 
yet  in  the  food  tube?  What  is  chyme  called  after  it  enters  the  food 
tube  ?  Describe  the  action  of  the  food  tube  as  it  was  studied  by  means 
of  the  X-ray.  How  rapidly  did  the  peristaltic  action  take  place  ?  How 
fast  did  the  chyle  move  through  the  tube  ?  Would  rapid  movement  of 
the  chyle  be  an  advantage  or  a  disadvantage  to  the  body  ?  Where  are  the 
villi  ?  What  are  they  for  ?  Why  is  chyle  squeezed  up  against  them  so 
often  ?  If  food  is  not  absorbed  by  the  villi,  what  becomes  of  it  ?  From 
the  time  food  is  cooked  and  eaten  until  its  journey  is  ended,  what  is 
all  the  preparation  for  ?  How  many  villi  are  there  ?  What  is  each  one 
like  ?  What  do  they  do  ?  What  is  the  great  object  of  peristaltic  action  ? 
What  happens  when  the  food  is  not  thoroughly  prepared  for  the  villi  ? 
Where,  then,  does  food  meet  its  final  test  ?  What  happens  to  food  if  it  is 
kept  too  long  either  in  the  pantry  or  in  the  food  tube  ?  Give  some 
reasons  why  a  person  may  be  only  half  nourished  although  he  swallows 
a  good  deal  of  food.  Describe  the  progress  of  a  mouthful  of  food  from 
the  time  it  is  put  in  the  mouth  until  it  reaches  the  villi. 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Tell  what  you  can  about  the  effect  of  tempting  a  dog  with  meat  ? 
How  many  sets  of  salivary  glands  are  there  ?  What  two  things  make 
saliva  flow  ?  Have  you  tested  yourself  in  both  these  directions  ?  Why 
does  a  sensible  man  with  a  weak  stomach  eat  dry  toast  rather  than  deli- 
cate custard  ?  How  does  saliva  affect  starch  ?  What  does  it  do  to  certain 
kinds  of  sugar  that  are  hard  to  digest  ?  Give  two  reasons  why  we  chew 
food  thoroughly.  (First,  to  soften  it ;  second,  to  mix  it  with  saliva,  which 
will  change  it  and  prepare  it  for  its  next  course  of  treatment.)  Why 


QUESTIONS  233 

should  babies,  and  older  persons  also,  take  their  milk  in  sips,  and  not 
in  a  pouring  stream  ?  What  can  gastric  juice  do  to  raw  meat  ?  Which 
needs  the  most  chewing,  raw  or  cooked  meat?  Describe  the  gastric 
glands.  Describe  the  tests  with  dogs  which  proved  certain  points  about 
the  flow  of  gastric  juice.  What  should  always  be  done  after  tempting  a 
dog  with  food  ?  Under  what  circumstances  does  gastric  juice  flow  fastest 
and  longest  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  advantages  of  hunger  ?  Give 
two  reasons  for  cooking  food.  What  does  cooking  do  to  starch  cells  ? 
Why  should  oatmeal  and  other  cereals  be  thoroughly  cooked  ? 

CHAPTER  XXII 

What  is  the  name  of  the  largest  gland  of  the  body  ?  Where  does  it 
lie  ?  How  much  does  it  weigh  ?  What  does  the  liver  do  with  the  liquid 
food  which  it  receives  from  the  villi  ?  What  is  glycogen  for  ?  What  does 
the  liver  do  with  venous  blood  ?  What  is  bile  good  for  ?  Mention  the  three 
occupations  of  the  liver.  What  does  a  doctor  sometimes  advise  a  man  to 
do  when  he  has  liver  trouble  ?  Why  is  a  piece  of  raw  liver  so  bloody  ? 
Why  is  alcohol  especially  harmful  to  the  liver  ?  How  large  does  a  liver 
sometimes  become  through  the  use  of  alcohol  ?  What  objection  is  there 
to  fat  in  the  liver  ?  Where  are  the  kidneys  ?  What  do  they  look  like  ? 
What  do  they  do  ?  If  they  are  out  of  order  and  cannot  clear  the  blood 
of  its  proteid  waste,  what  becomes  of  this  waste  ?  What  diseases  follow  ? 
What  do  insurance  companies  think  of  a  man  whose  kidneys  are  out  of 
order  ?  What  do  scientists  say  about  the  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  kidneys  ? 
Why  is  beer  especially  harmful?  (Because  it  is -a  weak  drink,  generally 
taken  in  large  quantities.) 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

Describe  a  fashion-plate  woman.  What  harm  is  she  doing  to  her 
liver  ?  Why  will  her  complexion  probably  suffer  ?  What  does  lacing  do 


234  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

to  the  stomach  ?  How  does  lacing  affect  the  food  tube  ?  What  is  the 
diaphragm  ?  Describe  its  location.  What  work  does  it  do  ?  What  organs 
lie  below  it  ?  What  is  above  it  ?  What  tubes  pass  through  the  diaphragm  ? 
What  work  is  done  by  the  organs  above  the  diaphragm  ?  What  is  done 
by  the  organs  below  the  diaphragm  ?  In  what  way  is  the  diaphragm 
connected  with  breathing?  When  you  contract  your  diaphragm,  is  air 
drawn  in  or  expelled  from  the  lungs  ?  When  the  diaphragm  contracts 
what  does  it  do  to  the  organs  below  it  ?  What  organs  are  helped  by  the 
exercise  which  this  regular  action  of  the  diaphragm  gives  them  ?  How 
does  lacing  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  diaphragm  ?  What  effect  does 
lacing  have  on  the  lungs  and  on  the  heart  ?  For  best  health,  how  loose 
should  the  clothes  be  ?  Why  should  weights  be  kept  from  dragging 
down  on  the  abdominal  wall? 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

Where  and  what  is  Okushiri  ?  What  was  the  occupation  of  the 
inhabitants?  What  was  their  condition  in  1884?  How  did  they  solace 
themselves  ?  What  kind  of  man  was  the  governor  and  what  did  he 
advise  his  people  to  do  ?  Tell  what  you  can  about  the  formal  statement 
which  some  of  them  drew  up.  What  was  the  object  of  this  statement  ? 
Who  were  asked  to  sign  it  ?  When  was  this  done  ?  Mention  some  of 
the  things  to  which  they  pledged  themselves.  How  were  the  fines  to  be 
spent  ?  How  long  was  the  contract  to  be  in  force  ?  How  many  signed 
the  contract  ?  At  the  end  of  the  five  years  what  was  the  condition  of 
the  Okushiri  islanders  ?  How  were  they  then  regarded  by  neighboring 
people  ?  What  did  they  then  decide  to  do  for  the  next  five  years  ?  If 
you  care  to  do  so,  find  out  the  price  of  one  glass  of  beer,  and  also  the 
price  of  various  articles  of  food,  and  decide  for  yourself  how  much  a 
man  can  buy  during  one  year  with  what  he  might  have  spent  for  three 
glasses  of  beer  a  day  during  that  year. 


QUESTIONS  235 

CHAPTER  XXV 

What  report  was  posted  on  the  important  buildings  of  Paris  in  1902  ? 
By  whom  was  the  report  made  ?  Mention  some  of  the  statements  which 
it  contained.  Why  are  different  nations  protesting  against  alcohol  ?  How 
do  anti-alcohol  leagues  do  their  work  ?  Tell  something  of  what  is  being 
done  in  Germany.  Who  are  the  most  prominent  men  in  this  German 
movement  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  royal  family  of  Sweden  ? 
What  has  Japan  done  in  the  line  of  prohibition?  In  1908,  in  the 
United  States,  how  many  people  were  living  under  anti-alcohol  laws 
which  they  themselves  had  made  ?  What  danger  threatened  Indian 
Territory  in  1905  ?  How  long  had  the  Five  Civilized  Tribes  been 
protected  from  alcohol  by  the  United  States  government  ?  What  did 
Indian  Territory  dread  if  it  should  become  a  state  ?  Who  were  inter- 
ested in  keeping  alcohol  out?  Who  were  anxious  to  let  alcohol  into 
the  new  state  ?  Tell  what  you  can  about  the  activity  of  each  side.  How 
long  did  the  agitation  last  ?  After  Indian  Territory  was  joined  to 
Oklahoma  what  was  the  new  state  called  ?  Give  in  your  own  words  a 
part  of  the  temperance  law  which  now  protects  Oklahoma  from  alcohol. 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

What  were  scientists  trying  to  learn  about  the  heat  of  the  body  in 
1775?  Describe  the  way  they  tested  their  bodies  in  heated  rooms. 
How  hot  was  the  air  ?  What  happened  to  beefsteak,  eggs,  water,  and 
watch  chains  that  were  in  the  same  room  ?  How  did  the  men  feel  ? 
What  saved  them  from  being  cooked  ?  When  were  the  sweat  glands 
most  active  ?  How  many  sweat  glands  is  a  human  being  supposed  to 
have  ?  Describe  the  epidermis.  Describe  the  dermis  and  tell  what  is 
in  it.  Describe  perspiration.  How  does  it  keep  the  skin  cool?  What 
things  are  mixed  with  perspiration  upon  an  unwashed  skin  ?  From  what 
part  does  new  skin  grow  to  cover  a  wound  ?  When  a  wound  is  too  large 


236  THE  BODY  AT  WORK 

to  be  covered  by  skin  that  grows  from  the  edges,  what  is  done  to  supply 
a  man  with  new  skin  ?  When  is  perspiration  called  "  insensible  "  ?  What 
is  sensible  perspiration  ?  When  a  man  is  heated,  what  happens  to  the 
capillaries  ?  When  a  heated  man  sits  in  a  draft  what  do  the  capillaries 
do  ?  Where  is  the  blood  sent  from  these  capillaries  ?  What  is  generally 
the  first  symptom  of  a  cold  ?  Describe  the  behavior  of  white  corpuscles 
at  such  times.  When  white  corpuscles  are  inactive  what  about  the 
microbes?  Why  is  a  man  who  has  a  cold  more  liable  to  take  other 
diseases  ?  If  you  feel  a  cold  coming  on,  what  should  you  do  to  check  it  ? 
In  what  ways  may  we  take  cold  by  chilling  the  blood  ? 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

What  can  you  say  about  the  heat  of  the  body  in  different  countries  ? 
What  is  the  normal  temperature  of  a  human  being?  Which  animals 
are  warm-blooded  ?  What  is  the  difference  between  warm-blooded  and 
cold-blooded  creatures  ?  Why  does  a  room  grow  warm  when  several 
people  are  present?  Why  do  we  wear  more  clothes  at  one  time  than 
at  another  ?  How  does  exercise  help  keep  the  body  warm  ?  What  con- 
nection is  there  between  food  and  the  power  of  the  body  to  heat  itself 
by  exercise  ?  When  much  exercise  is  taken  what  stored-up  fuel  is  drawn 
upon  ?  What  may  a  fat  man  do  to  change  his  appearance  ?  How  can, 
you  explain  the  fact  that  hard  exercise  has  little  effect  on  the  inside 
temperature  of  the  body  ?  Since  the  body  can  cool  itself  when  it  is  too 
warm,  what  is  the  danger  ?  Give  three  rules  for  preventing  the  escape 
of  heat  when  the  body  needs  it.  Are  we  warmed  by  keeping  the  cold 
out,  or  by  keeping  the  heat  of  the  body  in  ?  Why  do  we  choose  flannel 
for  winter  and  cotton  for  summer  wear  ?  Give  four  rules  that  help  the 
body  to  adjust  itself  to  heat  and  cold.  What  is  the  great  work  of  hygiene  ? 


GLOSSARY 


KEY   TO  PRONUNCIATION 

a    as  in  fate,  senate,  fat,  arm,  all,  ask,  what,  care. 

e      "     mete,  event,  met,  her,  th£re,  obey. 

ee    "     feet. 

i       "     ice,  idea,  it,  sir,  machine. 

o      "      old,  obey,  not,  move,  wolf,  son,  horse,  work. 

oo    "      food,  foot. 

u      "      use,  unite,  up,  fur,  rule,  pull. 

y      "      fly,  myself,  baby,  myrrh. 

au    "     author. 

aw   "     saw. 

oy    "      boy. 

c    (unmarked)  as  in  call ; 

ch  (unmarked)     "     child 

g    (unmarked)     "     go; 

ng        as  in  ring. 

g(=z)    "     is. 

th   (unmarked)  as  in  thin 


ew          as  in  new. 

oi             as  in  boil. 

ou             "      out. 

ow              "     cow. 

5                "      mice. 

^h              "      chaise  ; 

«h(=  k)  as  in  school. 

g(=j)      "      cage. 

n(  =  ng)   "      ink. 

ph(=f)    as  in  phanto 

si(=sh)   "     tension; 

si  (=  zh)   "     vision. 

th 


(unmarked) 


vex;    x(=gz) 


then.         ti  (  =  sh)   "      motion, 
exact. 


Obscure  sounds :  a,  e,  i,  etc.     Silent  letters  are  italicized. 


a  dul'ter  ate,  to  corrupt  by  mixing 
with  inferior  materials. 

al  I  mgn'ta  ry,  pertaining  to  food. 

al  I  mgn'ta  ry  canal,  the  food  canal. 

am 'bush,  a  lying  in  wait. 

a  or'ta,  the  great  artery  from  the 
heart. 

ar'chit8ct,  one  who  plans  build- 
ings. 


ar'ter  y,  one  of  the  vessels  or  tubes 

which  carry  the  blood  from  the 

heart.    . 
ath'lete,  one  trained  to  exercises 

of  agility  and  strength, 
afro  phy,  wasting  away  from  lack 

of  nourishment. 


b8vrer  age,  drink  of  any  kind. 


237 


238 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


j  a  muscle  having  two  heads; 
the  term  is  applied  to  a  muscle 
in  the  arm. 

ca"p'il  la  ry,  one  of  the  fine  vessels 
or  tubes  connecting  the  arteries 
and  veins. 

car'bon  di  ox 'id,  carbonic  acid  ;  a 
gas. 

car'ti  lage,an  elastic  tissue;  gristle. 

ehyle,  the  contents  of  the  small 
intestine. 

chyme,  food  in  the  form  in  which 
it  passes  out  of  the  stomach. 

Qir  cu  la'tion,  moving  in  a  circle  or 
circuit. 

qir'cu  la  to  ry,  pertaining  to  circu- 
lation, as  of  the  blood. 

co'ca  Ine,  a  drug  which  produces 
local  insensibility. 

con 'cave,  curved  in. 

con  traVtion,  a  shrinking;  shorten- 
ing. 

cor'pus  cle,  a  minute  particle ; 
blood  corpuscles,  —  the  blood 
disks  or  cells. 

crude,  raw,  not  fitted  for  use  by 
any  artificial  process. 

cur'va  ture,  a  bend  ;  a  curve. 

der'mls,  the  second  layer  or  true 
skin. 

m,  a  muscle  separating 
the  chest  from  the  abdomen. 


6p  I  der'mis,   the    outer    layer    of 

skin, 
e  v&p'6  ra'tion,    conversion    of    a 

fluid  into  vapor. 

gel 'a  tin,  a  substance  made  by  boil- 
ing bones  and  other  animal  tis- 
sues. It  is  used  in  glue  and  as 
a  jelly  for  food. 

glob'iile,  a  little  globe. 

gly'co  g6n,  a  substance  found  in 
many  animal  tissues,  and  espe- 
cially abundant  in  the  liver. 

gym'nast,  one  skilled  in  athletic 
exercises. 

hi'ber  nate,  to  pass  the  winter  in 
a  torpid  state,  as  some  ani- 
mals do. 

In  gre'dl  ent,  one  of  the  elements 
of  a  combination,  as  a  drink,  or 
medicine. 

lat'er  al,  side  wise. 

league,  persons  united  for  some 
particular  purpose. 

Hg'a  rnent,  the  tissue  that  connects 
bones. 

lymph,  a  colorless  fluid  in  animal 
bodies. 

lym  phat'Ic,  a  vessel  which  con- 
veys lymph. 


GLOSSARY 


239 


mgm'brane,  a  thin,  soft  tissue  in 
the  form  of  a  sheet  or  layer 
covering  parts  of  the  body. 

mi'cro  scope,  an  instrument  for 
examining  objects  too  small  for 
the  naked  eye. 

mus'cle,  a  tissue  in  animal  bodies 
whose  contraction  causes  mo- 
tion. 

mus'cular,  having  well-developed 
muscles  ;  strong. 

nor'mal,  regular  ;  natural. 
nutri'tion,   that  which   nourishes 
or  repairs  the  waste  in  tissues. 

6'pi  um,  the  juice  of  the  poppy  ; 

a  drug. 
or  gan'ic,  pertaining  to  objects  that 

have  organs  ;   hence  pertaining 

to    the    animal   and   vegetable 

worlds. 
ox'y  g6n,  the  element  of  the  air 

that  supports  life. 


pSr'a  lyze,  to  render  helpless. 
pat'ent  mgcl'I  qlue,  a  drug,  the  sale 

of  which  is  secured  by  law  as 

the  special  privilege  of  the  pro- 

prietor. 
p8r  I  stal'tlc,  contracting  in   suc- 

cessive circles. 
pig'ment,  coloring  matter. 
plas/ma,  the  liquid  part  of  the  blood. 


pie  be'/ an,  pertaining  to  the  com- 
mon people. 

pro'te  id,  food  stuffs  which  form 
tissues  are  proteids. 

pulse,  the  beating  of  the  heart  as 
felt  in  the  arteries. 

pylo'rus,  the  opening  through 
which  the  contents  of  the 
stomach  pass  into  the  intestine. 

reg  i  mgn'tals,  military  clothing. 

rAyth'mlc,  sounds  occurring  regu- 
larly, as  accents  in  poetry  or 
music. 

rlt'k'e'ts,  a  disease  of  children,  in 
which  they  are  weak  in  the 
joints. 

ro'tate,  to  revolve ;  to  move  round 
a  center. 

sak'e,  a  Japanese  fermented  liquor 

made  from  rice. 

sal  i  cyl'ic,  the  name  of  an  acid, 
sal 'I  va  ry,  pertaining  to  saliva, 
sar  co  lem'ma,  the  covering  of  sep- 
arate muscle  fibers, 
sphyg'mo  graph,    an     instrument 

used  in  determining  the  strength 

of  the  heart  beat, 
stim'ulant,  that  which  excites;  a 

medicinal  agent  for  increasing 

vital  activity, 
sym  met'rlc  al,  well  proportioned 

in  its  parts. 


240 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


syr'mge,  an  instrument  like  a  pump, 
drawing  in  and  ejecting  liquids. 


tf,  the  young  of  a  frog. 
tSn'don,  a  bundle  of  fibers  which 

joins  a  muscle  to  a  bone. 
tgnsely,  tightly;   rigidly. 
tro'phy,  a  memorial  of  victory. 


vein,  a  vessel  which  receives  blood 
from  the  capillaries  and  returns 
it  to  the  heart. 

ver'te  bra,  one  of  the  joints  of  the 
spine. 

vil'lus  (plural,  villi),  a  minute  ele- 
vation on  the  lining  of  the  small 
intestine. 


INDEX 


Abdomen,  effect  of  lacing  on,  183,  184. 

how  walls  of,  may  be  strengthened, 
188. 

injury  from  weight  of  skirts  on,  189. 
Africa,  212. 
Air  sacs,  where  located,  126. 

relation  of,  to  capillaries,  127. 

when  inactive,  129. 

Alcohol,  effect  of,  on  circulation,  ni- 
114. 

adulteration  of,  132-135. 

why  adulterated,  133. 

examination  of,  132,  134. 

fishermen  killed  by,  135. 

materials  used  in  adulteration  of, 
132,  136. 

effect  of,  on  health,  136. 

in  patent  medicines,  137,  138. 

effect  of,  on  the  liver,  175-177. 

effect  of,  on  kidneys,  178,  179. 

prohibition    of,    by    Okushiri   is- 
landers, 192-195. 

posters  against  use  of,  197. 

German  attitude  in  regard  to,  199. 

protection  against,  in  the   United 
States,  200,  201. 

law  against,  in  Japan,  200. 

fight  against,  by  Oklahoma,  202, 203. 
American  army,  refusal  of  candidates 

for,  64. 

Anderson,  Dr.,  141. 
Anti-alcohol  leagues,  198. 
Aorta,  82. 
Arkansas,  202. 
Arteries,  early  notions  about,  77-80. 

condition  of,  after  death,  78. 


Arteries,    nature    of   blood  flow   from, 
when  ruptured,  81. 

constricted  by  bandage,  84. 

union  of,  with  veins,  90. 
Athletic  leagues,  object  of,  60. 

how  conducted,  60,  61. 

reasons  for  self-denial  in  connec- 
tion with,  61,  62. 

Athletics,  for  New  York  boys,  58. 
Auricle,  86. 

Beer,  effect  of,  on  kidneys,  179. 

expense  of,  to  the  consumer,  196. 
Bile,  where  manufactured,  174. 

work  of,  174. 
Blood,  circulation  of,  as  understood  by 

Galen,  78-80. 

as  understood  by  Harvey,  80-83. 
amount  of,  in  human  body,  82,  92. 
pure  and  impure,  87. 
rate  of  circulation  of,  88. 
movement  of,  through  capillaries, 

91. 
supply  of,  controlled  by  exercise, 

95,  96. 

to  secure  drop  of,  97. 
characteristics  of,  97,  98. 
composition  of,  99,  100. 
value  of,  to  the  body,  100,  101. 
character  of,  in  arteries,  104. 
character  of,  in  veins,  104. 
effect  of  slow  movement  on  purity 

of,  no. 
circulation  of,  affected  by  alcohol, 

113,  114. 
reason  for  rapid  movement  of,  120. 


241 


242 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Blood,    color   of,    affected    by    carbon 
dioxid,   121. 

when  pure  and  when  impure,  126. 

treatment  of,  by  the  liver,  173, 174. 
Blood  vessels,  in  connective  tissue,  29. 

capacity  and  elasticity  of,  92,  94. 

when  refilled  with  salted  water,  94. 

surroundings  of,  105. 

exchanges  through  walls  of,  in. 

affected  by  alcohol,  114. 
Body,  shape  of,  influenced  by  exercise, 


training  of,  to  endure,  22. 
changes  in  temperature  of,  217,218. 
Bones,  measurement  of,  i,  2. 
shaped  by  pressure,  3-6. 
laws  of  growth  of,  7. 
records  made  by,  9. 
influenced  by  habits  at  school  desk, 

I  I,   12. 

outside  structure  of,  34,  36. 

internal  structure  of,  36. 

when  treated  with  acid,  36. 

lime  of,  how  secured,  36. 

composition  of,  36. 

condition  of,  during  youth  and  age, 

37- 

when  pliable,  37,  38. 
shapes  of,  39. 
how  made  larger  and  rougher,  41, 

43- 

of  the  foot,  45-47. 
Bowlegs,  cause  of,  4. 
Breathing,  why  best  through  nose,  131. 
Breathlessness,  description  of,  117, 118. 

relation  of  muscles  to,  119. 

three  steps  in  production  of,  120. 

old  notion  about  cause  of,  120. 

relation  of,  to  exercise,  121. 

cause  of,  122. 

how  regulated,  123. 

Cannon,  Dr.,  149,  150,  152-155,  160. 
Capillaries',  description  of,  90-92. 


Capillaries,  when  broken  into,  97. 

exchange    of    liquids    and     gases 
through  the  walls  of,  102-105. 

destruction  of,  by  electricity,  109. 

when  distended,  109,  no. 

in  the  lungs,  127. 

condition  of,  during  exercise,  209. 
Carbohydrate,  its  nature,  143. 

value  of,  to  the  body,  143,  146. 

proportion  of,  in  human  body,  147. 

effect  of  saliva  on,  166,  167. 

disposal  of  surplus  of,  178. 
Carbon  dioxid,  in  lymph,  104. 

production  of,  by  exercise,  119. 

amount  of,  given  off  under  differ- 
ing conditions,  121. 

in  arterial  blood,  122. 

expulsion  of,  from  lungs,  127. 
Cartilage,  4,  15. 
Cats,  study  of,  during  digestion,  149- 

155- 

Chinese  shoe  and  foot  described,  44,45. 
Chittenden,  Professor,  139,  142,  146. 
Chyle,  where  found,  158. 

treatment  of,  by  villi,  163. 
treatment  of,  by  food  tube,  160. 
acceptance  of,  by  the  villi,  162. 
Chyme,   passage   of,   through    pylorus, 

152. 

on  leaving  the  stomach,  157. 
Cigarettes,  why  given   up   by  school- 
boys, 62. 

to  investigate  effects  of,  63. 
Circulation  of  blood,  discoveries  about, 

by  Galen,  78-80. 
discoveries  about,  by  Harvey,  80- 

83- 

time  required  for,  88. 
effect  of  alcohol  on,  111-114. 
Clothing,  value  of  flannel  as  opposed 

to  cotton  fabrics  for,  217. 
Cold,  symptoms  of,  209. 
cause  of,  210. 
why  objectionable,  210. 


INDEX 


243 


Cold,  treatment  of,  210-211. 

to  prevent  taking,  216. 
Connective  tissue,  where  found,  29. 

relation   of,   to    tough   and  tender 

meat,  30. 
Corpuscles,  under  the  microscope,  98, 

99- 

description  of,  99,  100. 
Corpuscles  (white),  behavior  of,  during 

a  cold,  209,  210. 
Courtney,  C.  E.,  65. 
Cox,  Dr.  Hiram,  134. 
Curvature,  cases  of,  in  different  schools, 

12,  13. 

how  secured  at  desk,  14,  15. 
why  objectionable,  15. 
how  prevented,  16,  17. 

Debove,  Professor,  197. 
Dermis,  description  of,  207. 
Diaphragm,  location  and  structure  of, 
184,  185. 

work  of,  185. 

effect  of  lacing  on  use  of,  185,  186. 
Digestion,  study  of,  by  X-Rays,   149- 

155- 

result  when  process  of,  is  slow,  153. 
effect  of  emotions  on,  154,  155. 
relation  of  mental  condition  to,  156. 
how  hindered  by  waste,  161. 
how  helped  by  mastication,   166- 

168. 

how  helped  by  appetite,  170. 
Dogs,  food  experiments  with,  165,  169. 

Edwards,    Mr.,    captain    of    Princeton 

football  team,  65. 
Elephant  with  sprained  ankle,  51. 
Epidermis,  description  of,  207. 
Exercise,    why  taken  between    recita- 
tions, 14. 

curvature  prevented  by,  16,  17. 
effect  of,  on  shape  of  body,  18-23. 
taken  without  apparatus,  24-27. 


Exercise,  effect  of,  on  muscle  fiber,  30. 
effect  of,  on  bones,  41,  43. 
for  flat  feet,  47. 
need  of,  in  cities,  59. 
secured  through  athletic  leagues,6o. 
to  study  effect  of,  on  heart,  68-70. 
in  training  of  the  heart,  71-75. 
relation  of,  to  blood  supply,  95,  96. 
advantage  of,  to  flow  of  lymph,  107. 
production    of    carbon   dioxid   by 

means  of,  119,  120. 
relation  of,  to  demand  of  muscles 

for  oxygen,  120,  121. 
relation  of,  to  breathlessness,  121- 

123. 
lung   capacity    increased  by,    125, 

129,  130. 

effect  of,  on  abdomen,  188. 
effect  of,  on  capillaries,  209. 
relation  of,  to  bodily  temperature, 

214. 

effect  of,  on  fat,  215. 
cooling  off  after,  216. 

Fat,  a  food  substance,  144. 
as  reserve  fuel,  215. 
how  reduced  by  exercise,  215. 
Faisans,  Dr.,  197. 
Five  Civilized  Tribes,  treatment  of,  by 

the  United  States,  200. 
Food,  experiments  in  use  of,  139-141. 
value  of,  142. 

different  substances  in,  143. 
tables  showing  differing  values  of, 

144,  145. 

value  of,  as  bulk,  148. 
softened  in  the  stomach,  152. 
advantage  of  mastication  for,  153, 

166. 

progress  of,  through  tube,  160. 
treatment  of,  by  digestive  juices, 

1 60. 

condition    of,    when   absorbed   by 
villi,  163. 


244 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Food,  preparation  of,  for  villi,  162,  163. 

mistakes  in  use  of,  164. 

advantages  in  cooking,  170,  171. 

facts  concerning  the  use  of,  172. 

change  of,  into  glycogen,  173. 

relation  of,  to  bodily  heat,  215. 
Food  tube,  size  and  length  of,  157. 

nourishment  passing  through  walls 
of,  157. 

contraction  and  relaxation  of,  158. 

when  clogged,  161. 
Foot,  ligaments  of,  47. 

bones  of,  47. 

flat,  test  of,  47. 

flat,  exercise  for,  47. 

health  requirements  for,  48. 

rules  for  treatment  of,  48-50. 

Galen,  77-80. 

Gastric  glands,  location  and  work  of, 

1 68. 

structure  of,  169. 
Gastric   juice,    effect   of,   on   food, 

!59- 

flow  of,  affected  by  worry,  164. 
power  of,  1 68. 
increased  flow  of,  169. 
laws  controlling  flow  of,  170. 
Gelatin,  how  secured,  36. 
Germany,  agitation  against  alcohol  in, 

198,  199. 
Gianini,  Mr.,  New  York  Athletic  Club, 

66. 

Good  Health,  references  to,   126,  130, 
207.      ^ 

Harvard  Medical  School,  149. 

Harvey,  William,  77,  80,  83. 

Heart,  as  affected  by  tobacco,  62,  64. 

importance  of  training  in  develop- 
ment of,  71,  73,  74. 

how  injured,  72. 

description  of,  72. 

how  overtaxed,  73-75. 


Heart,  condition   of,  when   overtaxed, 

75- 

of  wild  and  caged  animals,  75. 
how  strengthened,  74,  76. 
belief  of  Galen  about,  80. 
work  of,  82. 

number  of  beats  of,  per  minute,  82. 
amount  of  blood  pumped  by,  83. 
relation  of,  to  veins  and  arteries, 

85.  93- 

structure  of,  85,  86. 
affected  by  alcohol,  113-116. 
forced  work  of,  120. 
when  overworked,  121. 
training  of,  121. 
Heart  beat,  relation  of,  to  pulse  beat, 

68,  69. 

affected  by  quick  run,  69. 
Heat,  experiments  with,  in  1775,  204, 

205. 

importance  of,  to  the  body,  213. 
radiation  of,  from  the  body,  214. 
relation  of  exercise  to,  214. 
regulation  of,  by  perspiration,  216. 
use    of   newspaper   in    preventing 

escape  of,  217. 
Hotel  de  Ville,  197. 
Hygiene,  definition  of,  218. 

Indian  Territory,   alcoholic  legislation 

for,  201-203. 

Indians,  flat  heads  secured  by,  4. 
Intestine,   small,    condition   of,   during 

digestion,  160. 
passage  of  food  through  lining  of, 

162. 
effect  of  lacing  on,  183. 

Japan,  law  of,  against  alcohol,  200. 
Joints,  assistance  from,  51-57. 

where  located,  54. 

different  kinds  of,  54-56. 

ball-and-socket,  55. 

hinge,  56. 


INDEX 


245 


Kidneys,  work  of,  146,  178. 

location  and  structure  of,  177. 
how  overtaxed,  178. 
effect  of  alcohol  on,  179. 

Lacing,  harm  done  by,   182-184,   186, 
188. 

how  to  avoid,  189. 
Ligaments,  between  vertebrae,  41. 

of  foot,  44. 

when  strained,  51. 

of  knee  and  hip,  55. 

description  of,  55,  56. 

work  of,  56. 
Liver,  a  chemical  laboratory,  173. 

occupations  of,  173,  174. 

condition  of,  when  raw,  174,  175. 

effect  of  alcohol  on,  175-177. 

effect  of  lacing  on,  182. 

work  of,  helped  by  diaphragm,  186. 
London,  residence  of  William  Harvey, 

80. 
Lungs,  expansion  of,  124. 

how  to  permanently  increase  size 
of,  125,  129,  130. 

description  of,  125,  126. 

work  of,  126,  127. 

advantage   of  size  and  health  of, 
128,  130. 

effect  of  lacing  on,  186. 
Lymph,  where  found,  103,  106. 

nature  and  value  of,  104. 

relation  of,  to  carbon  dioxid,  104. 

importance  of,  104. 

constituents  of,  105. 

office  of,  105. 

appearance  of,  106. 

exchanges  of,  with  plasma,  106. 

flow  of,  aided  by  exercise,  107. 

what  it  receives  from  plasma,  107. 

union  of,  with  circulatory  system, 
1 08. 

when  fresh,  108. 
Lymphatic  tubes,  origin  of,  105,  107. 


Lymphatic  tubes,  structure  of,  107 
size  of,  1 08. 

McBride,  Mr.,  65. 

Meat,  substitutes  for,  147,  148. 

Merrimac  River,  170. 

Microbes,  relation  of,  to  bodily  waste, 

162. 

Milk,  why  swallowed  in  sips,  167,  168. 
Muscles,  of  back,  18,  19. 

influence  of  hard  work  on,  18,  19. 

law  of  activity  of,  20. 

of  arm  elongated,  20. 

of  oarsman's  back,  20. 

in  hand  of  piano  player,  21. 

how  to  change  undesired  shape  of, 

22. 

of  chest,  how  strengthened,  22,  23. 
exhibitions  of,  by  student,  24,  26. 
the  biceps,  25,  33. 
development  of,  without  apparatus, 

26,  27. 
examination    of,   with   magnifying 

glass,  28. 

different  shapes  of,  28. 
structure  of,  28,  29. 
hard  when  contracted,  32. 
voluntary,  32. 
involuntary,  32. 
weight  of,  in  human  body,  33. 
relation   of,   to  tendon  and  bone, 

52,  53- 

biceps,  work  of,  53. 
as  affected  by  exercises,  119,  120. 
call  of,  for  oxygen,  123. 
work  of,  to  reduce  fat,  215. 

Nansen,  Mr.,  views  of,  about  alcohol,  66. 

New  Mexico,  201. 

Nippon,  island  of,  191. 

Nose,  explanation  of  color  of,  no. 

Oarsmen,  straight  and  bent  backs  of, 
how  explained,  20. 


246 


THE  BODY  AT  WORK 


Oklahoma,  union  of,  with  Indian  Ter- 
ritory, 201-203. 
Okushiri,  island  of,  191. 
Okushiri    islanders,   history    of    prohi- 
bition  experiment  among,  191- 
196. 

Oporto,  wine  exported  from,  135. 
Oxygen,  in  the  blood,  104. 

need  of,  during  exercise,  120. 
in  the  lungs,  127,  128. 

Paris,  anti-alcohol  posters  in,  197. 
Patent  medicine,   harmful   ingredients 

of,  137- 

effect  of,  on  patient,  137. 

proportion  of  alcohol  in,  137. 

action  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment in  regard  to,  137,  138. 
Pawlow,  Professor,  165,  169. 
Peristaltic  action,  object  of,  163. 
Perspiration,  manufacture  of,  206. 

composition  of,  207. 

insensible,  208. 

sensible,  209. 

relation  of,  to  taking  cold,  209. 
Plants,     source     of     nourishment     of, 

143- 
Plasma,  description  of,  99. 

what  it  receives  from  lymph,  106. 
Posture,  importance  of,  7. 

correct  standing,  9,  10. 

at  school  desk,  IT. 

Proteid,  use  of,  in  the  body,  143,  146, 
147. 

disposal  of  surplus  of,  178. 
Pulse  beat,  testing  of,  67. 

to  increase  rapidity  of,  68-70. 

why  followed  by  the  doctor,  70. 

what  shown  by,  81,  82. 
Pylorus,  location  and  work  of,  152. 

how  affected  by  soft  and  hard  food, 

152,  153- 
Redding,  Cyrus,  135. 


Ribs,  shape  of,  changed  by  lacing,  182. 

normal  shape  of,  183. 
Rome,  residence  of  Galen,  78. 
Royal  Society  of  London,  Philosophical 

Transactions  of,  206. 
Rugby,  curvature  among  pupils  of,  13. 

St.  Louis  Wholesale  Liquor  Association, 

133- 

Sake,  use  of,  191. 
Saliva,  how  increase  flow  of,  165. 

value  of,  1 66,  167. 
Salivary  glands,  165. 
Schmidt,  Dr.  F.  A.,  12. 
School  desk,  danger  from,  n. 
Shoes,  affecting  shape  of  foot,  48. 

size  of,  required,  48,  49. 
Skeleton,    dependence    of,   on  muscle 

and  ligament,  34. 
Skin,  protected  by,  204-211. 

uninjured  by  heat,  204,  205. 

structure  of,  207. 

work  of,  how  interfered  with,  207. 

condition  of,  in  health,  208. 

power  of,  to  heal  itself,  208. 
Soldiers,  connection  of,  with  eating  ex- 
periments, 139. 

treatment  of,  140. 

condition  of,  at   close    of   experi- 
ments, 141. 

Sphygmograph,  value  of,  in,  112. 
Spinal  column,  importance  of,  39,  40. 
Stagg,  A.  A.,  65. 
Starch,  in  beans  and  in  potato,  171. 

effect  of  cooking  on,  171. 

effect  of  saliva  on,  171. 
Stockholm,  temperance  gathering  in,  199. 
Stomach,  study  of,  through  the  X-ray, 
149. 

appearance  of,  150,  151. 

action  of,  during  digestion,  151. 

contents  of,  after  fifteen  minutes, 
152. 


INDEX 


247 


Stomach,  effect  of  lacing  on,  183. 

effect  of  rhythmic   action  of  dia- 
phragm on,  1 86. 
Sweat  glands,  work  of,  206. 
number  of,  206. 
value  of,  216. 

Sweden,  attitude  of  royal  family  towards 
alcohol,  199. 

Temperature  of  body,  slight  variation 

of,  212,  213. 

Tendons,  when  strained,  51,  53. 
relation  of,  to  muscle,  52. 
work  of,  56. 

Texas,  reference  to,  202. 
Tobacco,  use  of,  forbidden  to  athletes, 

62,  65,  66. 

effect  of,  on  heart,  64. 
Town  and  City,  reference  to,  137,  170, 

177,  200. 

Treves,  Sir  Frederick,  116, 
Tuberculosis,  frequent  starting  point  of, 
129. 

United  States,  prohibition  in,  200. 

action  of,  in  regard  to  alcohol  and 
the  Indians,  200-203. 


Veins,  early  notions  about,  77-80. 

condition  of,  after  death,  78. 

nature  of  blood  flow  from,  when 
ruptured,  81. 

valves  of,  83. 

to  hinder  progress  of  blood  through, 
84,  85. 

union  of,  with  arteries,  90. 
Ventricle,  86. 

Vertebrae,  wedge  shape,  how  secured, 
14,  42. 

number  and  location  of,  39. 

shape  of,  40. 

effect  of  posture  on,  40. 

movements  of,  41. 
Villi,  location  of,  160. 

work  of,  161. 

numbers  of,  162. 

description  of,  162. 

absorption  of  food  by,  163. 

food  sent  by,  to  liver,  173. 

Warren,  Dr.,  132. 

Waste,  regular  elimination  of,  162. 

X-ray,  action  of  food  tube  shown  by, 
159- 


Y.C 


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